LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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Shelf .j-K*!--. 

— i^m 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Of this Large Paper edition Two Hundred 
copies have been pri?ited for sale. 



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POEMS. 



Poems 



BY 



HARRIET McEWEN KIMBALL 



aiam^hit Stiition 




6^ 



NEW YORK 

ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH AND CO. 

38 West Twenty -Third Strbet 

1889 






Copyright, i88q^ 
By Harriet McEwen Kimball. 



Saniijersitg ^Btess : 
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 



Part I. 

5^0 mg JEotljer, 

THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 
Prelude ix 



J3art I. 



As Thou Wilt 1 

The Guest 2 

The Unspoken Prayer 4 

Praying in Spirit 5 

All's Well , 7 

" The Blessed Company of all Faithful People " ... 8 

Security 12 

My Knowledge 14 

Holy Mysteries 16 

The Christian Year 18 

Jesus, my Refuge 25 

The House of God 27 

The Vision in the Chalice 34 

The Divine Purpose 37 

" Jesus, the Ladder of my Faith " 39 

" The Communion of Saints " 41 

Hymn for the Holy Communion 47 

The Communion of the Sick 48 

Interrupted Zeal 50 

A Hymn of Adoration 53 



iv CONTENTS. 

Page 

" Give us this Day our Daily Bread " 55 

" Anima Christi " 57 

His Rest 58 

Advent Song of the Faithful 62 

The Annunciation 64 

CHRISTMAS POEMS AND CAROLS. 

The Nativity 69 

" Christ is born of Blessed Mary " 75 

" Ring, Sweet Bells of Christendom " 77 

" Gloria in Excelsis " 80 

" While all around the Happy Earth " 82 

" The Sweetest Hymn that ever was sung " . . . . 84 

Mary Mother 86 

" Ended the Vigil of Ages " 87 

" Peace and Good- will, Good-will and Peace "... 90 

The Blessed Babe 93 

A Christmas Meditation 96 

LENT AND EASTER. 

Hymns for Lent : — 

L " From feasts that perish turned aside " . . . 101 

IL " In the lone desert of my own despair " . . . 102 
Hymns for Good Friday : — 

I. "Oh! see Him where he hangs " 103 

II. " O sad, long-suffering Face " 104 

Easter-even Violets 106 

Easter Day 108 

Easter Carols : — 

I. " Christ is risen ! Christ is risen ! " . . . . 110 

II. " With flowers we crown His altar fair " . . . Ill 

The Resurrection 113 

A Battle-Cry 116 

The Ladder 117 



CONTENTS. V 

Page 

" Thou art a Place to hide me in " 119 

" I will never leave Thee, nor forsake Thee " . . . 120 

Quicken Thou me 123 

"Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him " . . 124 

" Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out " . 126 

The Lowest Place 128 

" Confess your Faults one to Another " 129 

The Common Offering 132 

A Hymn of Contrition 133 

The Night- Watch 134 

O Spotless Lamb ! 135 

A Psalm of Weariness 138 

When I Awake ^ 139 

A Morning Hymn 141 

Evening Hymn of Praise 142 

A Night of Faith I44 

The Divine Love 146 

Apprehension 148 

God's Silence 150 

"It is I" '. ! 152 

After the Storm 153 

The Monk of La Trappe I54 

My Petition I57 

The Way of Thorns 160 

The Blessed Task 162 

Discouragement I64 

My Field 167 

His Peace 168 

Omniscience 170 

"No one taketh your Peace away " 172 

In the Garden I74 

The Two Cities 177 

The Waning Year I80 

Vale 183 



vi CONTENTS. 



Part 11. 



Page 

The Flight of the Birds 187 

Friends 188 

The Lilacs 191 

The River 192 

The Doves 193 

The Lingering October Weather 195 

The Morning Chamber 197 

In Spring-time 199 

Hospitality 201 

Two Men 203 

My Namesake 204 

Valentine to a Priest 206 

The Singer 207 

The Rose of Jericho 208 

"Peace, Troubled Soul" 210 

In Memoriam 212 

The Home among the Hills 214 

An Easter Incident 216 

The Boy who carried the Cross 219 

A Glimpse of Heaven 221 

Song 222 

White Azaleas 223 

Summer-time 224 

Sweet-Peas 225 

Midsummer Morning 228 

Day-Lilies 229 

Heliotrope 232 

Day-Dreaming . 233 

Song 234 

Incognita 235 



CONTENTS. vii 

June Songs: — Page 

I. Caprice 236 

II. Constancy 236 

III. Petition 237 

IV. Expectancy 238 

Queen Nature 239 

Love's Visitation 240 

To a Sleeping Child 242 

A Vigil 243 

The Crickets 244 

To the Blue Gentian 245 

Nothing to do 247 

The Coat 249 

In Autumn 250 

The Bell in the Tower 254 

The Feast-time of the Year 256 

Good-by 258 

Bride and Saint 259 

Rose and Thorn 260 

Cradle Songs : — 

I. " Sleep, sweetest Babe, and dream " .... 261 

II. " Sleep, little sunny head ! " 262 

A Harvest Hymn 264 

Abraham Lincoln 266 

Woman (1862) 268 

SONNETS. 

Inscribed to J. W. and C. H 273 

A Woodland Hour 275 

The Golden Wedding 276 

" Save that there may be one love-garnering Breast" . 277 

Prophecy 278 

" He opened not His Mouth " 279 



viii CONTENTS. 



J)art III. 



A Little Lesson 283 

Eour 284 

Love for Love 286 

The Fairy's Dilemma 287 

The Stuffed Bird 290 

The Baby I love 292 

Her own Little Room 294 

Vive La Reine 297 

The Fairy Taper 298 

Knitting Song 300 

The King's Surveyor 302 

" If you were a Bee " 308 

The Little Beggar 309 

We do not Know 310 

In the Dark 312 

To my Godson 314 

A Little Christmas Sermon 317 

The Holy Child 320 



JPrelutie* 



TO 

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER. 

But for thy gracious words, revered of men, 
Scarce had I ventured on from year to year 
To seek the great worlds much-engrossed ear 

With the small rhythmic whispers of my pen. 

And now to silence oft withdrawing ivhen 

Thy songs so full and sweet, so strong and clear, 
And those of others, nobly sung, I hear, 

I ask, Why do I aught hut listen ? Then 

Myself makes answer, Who hath given thee 
This voice within that thou art fain to still ? 

Though few and scarcely heard thy notes may be, 
Seek not, nor yet vnthhold. Trust makes amends 

For Trust that waits unquestioning God^s ivill, 
Hearing His words above the words of friends. 



POEMS. 



AS THOU WILT. 

T T is so sweet to live 
-■- My little life to-day, 
That I would never leave it, if 

I might forever stay ! — 

I sometimes say. 

I am so weary, Lord, 

I would lie down for aye, 
Could I but hear Thee speak the word 

^' Thy sins are washed away ! " — 

I sometimes say. 

The better mood that lies 

These moods between midway, 

Comes softty, and I lift my eyes : 
" Lord, as Thou wilt ! " I pray, 
And would alway. 



THE GUEST. 



Behold, I stand at the door and knock : if any man hear 
my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will 
sup with him, and he with me. — Rev. iii. 20. 

OPEECHLESS Sorrow sat with me; 

^^ I was sighing wearily ; 

Lamp and fire were out ; the rain 

Wildly beat the window-pane. 

In the dark I heard a knock, 

And a hand was on the lock. 

One in waiting spake to me, 

Saying sweetly, 
"I am come to sup with thee." 

All my room was dark and damp ; 
" Sorrow," said I, " trim the lamp, 
Light the fire, and cheer thy face, 
Set the guest-chair in its place." 
And again I heard the knock ; 
In the dark I found the lock : 
" Enter, I have turned the key, — 

Enter, Stranger, 
Who art come to sup with me." 
2 



THE GUEST. 

Opening wide the door he came, 
But I could not speak his name ; 
In the guest-chair took his place, 
But I could not see his face. 
When my cheerful fire was beaming, 
When my little lamp was gleaming, 
And the feast was spread for three, 

Lo, my Master 
Was the Guest that supped with me ! 



THE UNSPOKEN PRAYER. 

T PONDERED how to shape my praj^er ; 
•^ I chose the words with pious care, 
Lest with my lips I should betray 
The wish my heart would hide away. 

The thing I craved I dared not ask ; 
Yetj like a face behind a mask, 
That wish looked up through every word, — 
And it was answered, though unheard ! 
4 



PEAYING m SPIEIT. 

But thou when thou prayest enter into thy closet, and 
when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is 
in secret. — Matt. vi. 6. 

T NEED not leave tlie jostling world, 
■^ Or wait till daily tasks are o'er, 
To fold my palms in secret prayer 
Within the close-shut closet door. 

There is a viewless cloistered room 
As high as heaven, as fair as day, 

Where, though my feet maj^ join the throng, 
My soul can enter in and pray. 

When I have banished wayward thoughts. 
Of sinful works the fruitful seed, 

When folly wins my ear no more. 
The closet door is shut indeed. 

No human step approaching breaks 

The blissful silence of the place ; 
No shadow steals across the light 

That falls from my Kedeemer's face. 

5 



PRAYING IN SPIRIT. 

And never through those crystal walls 
The clash of life can pierce its way ; 

Nor ever can a human ear 

Drink in the secret words I say. 

One hearkening even cannot know 

When I have crossed the threshold o'er ; 

For He alone who hears my prayer 
Has heard the shutting of the door. 



ALL'S WELL. 

HE day is ended. Ere I sink to sleep, 
My weary spirit seeks repose in Thine. 
Father ! forgive my trespasses, and keep 
This little life of mine. 



T 



With loving-kindness curtain Thou my bed, 
And cool in rest my burning pilgrim-feet ; 
Thy pardon be the pillow for my head ; 
So shall my sleep be sweet. 

At peace with all the world, dear Lord, and Thee, 
No fears my soul's unwavering faith can shake ; 
All 's well, w^iichever side the grave for me 
The morning light may break. 

7 



"THE BLESSED COMPANY OF ALL 
FAITHFUL PEOPLE." 

T) ETWEEN" the gray dawn and the golden day 
^^^^ Methought low murmurs troubled all the 

land, — 
Disquietude and strife where should be peace, 
In the white tents of that sweet Prince of Peace 
Whose hosts encamp amidst '^a naughty world." 
As swelled the murmurs, under all I heard 
The sighing of the leaders, men of prayer. 
Steadfast in faith, though sometimes faint of voice. 
Worn with the heat and burden of the day, 
And the half-hearted zeal of many a rank ; 
And harsh above their sighings louder rose 
The sounds of party and opposing speech. 
And louder yet the petty-tongued complaints 
Of such as had not learned obedience. 
That first, last law for these rebellious hearts, 
Given of God and taught of Holy Church. 
Anon, and piercing all the clamor through, 
The Lord's own heralds blew their bugle-notes ; 
For He would set the faithful in array. 
Then sudden silence made a little space 
For the One Voice that fills the universe. 
And Christ's own roll-call swept the white camp 
through. 
8 



THE BLESSED COMPANY. 9 

And lo ! the faithful noiseless moved as thought 

E-esponsive, yet unconscious of response, 

Their rapt eyes lifted to the shining morn, 

As seeing Him who is invisible. 

He named them, clan by clan. His chosen ones : 

The poor in spirit, and the souls that mourn. 

The meek, and those for righteousness athirst, 

The merciful, the pure in heart, the just, 

The valiant, the forbearing, named He thus. 

For every clan a benediction sweet. 

And sweeter promises of victory, thus : — 

Blessed are the poor, 

Jesus spake ; 

Poor in spirit for My sake ; 

Who seek the glory of this world no more, 

Nor gather riches that shall fly aw^ay ; 

Of the heavenly kingdom heirs are they. 

Blessed, 

Blessed they who mourn, He said ; 

Precious are the tears they shed, 

The ashes on the bowed head. 

All their sins confessed, 

They shall be comforted. 

Blessed are the meek, 

AVho seek 

The Father's will in quietness and peace, 

Caring little for all things beside ; 



10 THE BLESSED COMPANY OF 

They shall increase, 

And with the fulness of the earth be satisfied. 

Blessed they, He said, 

After righteousness an-hungered ; 

Blessed they whose thirst 

The pleasures of this world accurst 

Have not stilled ; 

With My bread 

Shall the famished be fed ; 

With My wine the parched lips be filled. 

Blessed, blessed they 

The merciful, whose ears 

Are swift to hear the crying of distress ; 

Soft as the rain in summer fall their tears ; 

Their place is found beside the fatherless. 

Yea, 

Blessed they 

To whom the outcast and the poor complain 

Not in vain ; 

Mercies numberless 

They hereafter shall obtain. 

Blessed are the pure in heart. He said, 
Whose feet the paths of holiness do tread. 
Whose looks are God-ward, and whose hands are 

clean ; 
Through glories manifold 
Shall they behold 
Him whom no e3^e hath seen. 



ALL FAITHFUL PEOPLE. 11 

Blessed they who seek 

To turn all strife to peace, 

Whose words are as a covert to the weak, 

Who make the anger of the strong to cease j 

Children of God shall they 

Be called for aye. 

Blessed they who steadfast stand 

Through persecutions dread, 

Though on every hand 

The wicked hend the bow 

To lay them low ; 

Theirs the kingdom never vanquished. 

Blessed ye when men revile 

And persecute you falsely for My sake ; 

Ye who, walking without guile, 

With Me partake 

Shame and scorn awhile. 

Yea, rejoice. 

Ye who fly not from the arrows of the strong ; 

Be exceeding glad, for unto you is given 

Great reward in heaven ; 

Even now lift up your voice 

In victorious song ; 

For so persecuted they 

The prophets in their da}'- : 

Again rejoice. 

Then all the winds of heaven : Amen ! Amen ! 



SECUEITY. 

TPvEEP in the grass the trustful lark 
-^^^ Conceals its lowly nest, 
Where cruel eye may seldom mark 
Or cruel hand molest. 

At least approach of footsteps rude 

The little bird upsprings ; 
From solitude to solitude 

It soars on swiftest wings. 

Ear up the azure height it soars 
Beyond the reach of wrong, 

And from its modest breast outpours 
Its rapt, entrancing song. 

Thus dwells the pious soul secure. 

In meditation blest ; 
The foot of pride, ambition's lure, 

Scarce find the hidden nest. 

And wdien the tempter draweth near, 
His faintest footsteps heard, 

Swift on the wings of holy fear 
She soars as soars the bird. 
12 



SECURITY. 13 

Free in the vast encircling sky 

Of God's protecting grace, 
She pours her matchless song on high 

Of thankfulness and praise. 



MY KNOWLEDGE. 



'T^HOUGH men confront the Living God 
•*■ With wisdom than His word more wise, 
And leaving paths apostles trod 

Their own devise ; 
I would myself forsake and flee, 
Christ, the living Way, to Thee. 



I know not what the schools may teach. 

Nor yet how far from truth depart ; 
One lesson is within my reach, — 

The Truth Thou art. 
And learning this I learn each day 
To cast all other lore away. 

I cannot solve mysterious things 

That fill the schoolmen's thoughts with strife ; 
But oh, what peace this knowledge brings — 

Thou art the Life ! 
Hid in Thy everlasting deeps, 
The silent God His secret keeps. 
14 



31 Y KNOWLEDGE. 15 

The Way, the Truth, the Life Thou art, 

This, this I know ; to this I cleave ; 
The sweet new language of my heart, 

" Lord, I believe." 
I have no doubts to bring to Thee ; 
My doubt has fled ; my faith is free. 



HOLY MYSTEEIES. 

TT W can it be — the sweet new birth 
-^ -^ Of water and the Spirit wrought, 

Bej'-ond the wisdom of the earth 
To understand or bring to nought I 
We know not how ; 
We only bow 
And say, Amen. 

How can it be — the Holy Ghost 

His seven-fold gifts on men bestows 
Through laying on of hands that boast 
No power the mystery to disclose ! 
We know not how ; 
We only bow 
And say, Amen. 

How can it be — the priestly prayer 

Of consecration duly said, 
And we the one Oblation share, 
And feed upon the Living Bread ! 
We know not how ; 
We only bow 
And say, Amen. 

How can it be — the precious Blood 
Once shed for man doth never fail, 
16 



HOLY MYSTERIES. 17 

But flows a sacramental flood 

That contrite sinners shall avail ! 
We know not how ; 
We only bow 
And say, Amen. 

How can it be — from age to age, 

Since the great day of Pentecost, 
The Church abides, though heathen rage, 
The grace of Orders never lost ! 
We know not how ; 
We only bow 
And say, Amen. 

How can it be — goes forth the word 
Of holy Church, and twain are one : 
Type of Her union with Her Lord, 
Foreshadowed when the race begun ! 
We know not how ; 
We only bow 
And say. Amen, 

How can it be that wine and bread 

In death's dark hour shall life afford. 
Till with His unveiled Presence fed 
We are forever with the Lord ! 
We know not how ; 
We only bow 
And say, Amen. 



THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. 



A DVENT : now begins the year, 
^ Opening with holy fear. 
Haste, ye faithful, to prepare 
For the coming in the air 
Of the Lord with angels bright 
Thronging from the heavenly height ! 
He shall come our Judge to be ; 
Haste, ye faithful ; bow the knee ; 
Watch ye all, and watching pray : 
" Jesus, spare us in that Day ! " 

Christmas : time of exultation, 
Joy, and peace, and adoration, 
Telling how of old He came, 
Sinless Babe of Saving Name ; 
How the shepherds, angel-sent, 
Swift to Bethlehem's manger went, 
There to find the Child foretold 
By all Prophet-tongues of old ; 
Little King, no sceptre bearing. 
But the meanest shelter sharing ; 
18 



THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. 19 

Son of God, His glory hiding, 
And as Man with man abiding ; 
Son of Mary, lowly Maiden, 
With eternal honor laden ; 
Little Jesus, coming still 
To the hearts He fain would fill ; 
Finding with the meek a place 
To exalt them through His grace; 
While the angels, as of yore. 
Praises still on praises pour, 
And with " Merry Christmas " sweet 
Christians all good Christians greet. 

Circumcision' : showing forth 
Of obedience the worth, 
When the little Jesus, brought 
To the Rite commanded, taught 
All his children to obey, 
Following in the Church's way ; 
To be pure as He is pure. 
Seeking pleasures that endure. 

Epiphany : whose wondrous Star 
Led the Magi from afar, 
And the Christ revealed to them 
In the Babe of Bethlehem. 
Precious gold to Him they bring. 
Thus acknowledging their King ; 



20 THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. 

Precious frankincense they pour 
For the God whom they adore ; 
Precious myrrh their love supplies 
For their Lord and Sacrifice. 
Every gift we can command 
Of loyal heart and loyal hand, 
Every deed that serves to show 
Heavenly love in love below, 
Jesus claims as tribute due, 
All good Christians, now from you. 

When Epiphany is spent, 
Sundays three, like heralds sent. 
Cry aloud the Fast of Lext. 
Septuagesima first, and second 
Sexagesima is reckoned ; 
Quinquagesima, the last ; 
Then comes in the solemn Fast, 
With Ash Wednesday'' s litanies. 
That from hearts repentant rise. 
Forty days at Jesus' feet 
Hide we now in blest retreat. 
At their close through Holy Week, 
We His way of sorrow seek, 
Entering first Jerusalem, 
While the throngs His progress hem, 
And with shouts of welcome press 
Zion's lowly King to bless, 
Scattering palms along His way 



THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. 21 

On that one triumphant Day. 
Though they shout, He weeps aloud 
O'er tlie self-deceiving crowd. 
Through that Week we see Him bear 
Anguish none can know or share ; 
On Good Friday follow Him 
Scourged and bruised in every limb, 
And with thorns in insult crowned. 
While the foes that Him surround 
Gibes and jeers incessant toss 
On the Altar of the Cross, 
We behold Him meekly die 
For the world's iniquity. 
Every Friday for His sake 
Let us here our station take, 
At His feet confession making. 
Self and sin abhorred forsaking. 

Easter-Even : Hour of rest ; 
Faith's sweet vigil calm and blest. 
In the tomb His Body lies, 
And His Soul in Paradise 
Waits the morn when He shall rise. 
Here we watch and watching ponder 
On the never-lessened wonder, 
How from Baptism we emerge 
On the new life's trembling verge, 
In His death the "old man" dead 
And the " new man " raised instead. 



22 THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. 

Henceforth now be crucified 
All our anger, lust, and pride ; 
Every evil passion die, 
Mortified continually ! 

Easter-Day : The " day of days : " 

Radiance immortal plays 

Round the sepulchre whose door, 

Open now can close no more ! 

Stricken guard and broken seal 

To our longing eyes reveal 

What the glorious Angel saith 

Who unbarred that gate of death : 

'* He is risen ; do not fear ; 

Jesus is no longer here ; 

But in lowly Galilee 

Ye again your Lord shall see." 

Swift, with Alleluias sweet. 

Follow we His boly feet, 

Singing all the joyful wa}^ : 

" Christ the Lord has risen to-day ! " 

Precious Easter-Tide : Again 

Jesus walks the ways of men ; 

In a body glorified, 

Yet the very same that died. 

Pierced in hands, and feet, and side ; 

And we know in His own time 

We shall share that change sublime. 



THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. 23 

Forty days, most wondrous days ! 
He in word and act displays 
Sign and miracle, the keys 
Of His Kingdom's Mysteries. 

On the great Ascensiox Day, 
When those Forty Days are ended, 
With His holy hands extended, 
Leading forth His chosen, pressing 
To receive His final blessinsr, 
We behold Him pass away; 
In a cloud of glory rise. 
Vanishing from mortal eyes. 
Once again the Angels fair, 
Tidings wonderful declare ; 
He shall come again, they say, 
As 3'"e saw Him go away. 

While our hearts within us burn, 

With His chosen now we turn 

And obedient with them 

Go we to Jerusalem, 

There in expectation sweet 

To wait the Promised Paraclete, — 

The Holy Ghost, whose tongues of fire 

Shall illumine and inspire. 

Lo ! He comes on Whitsun-Day, 

The Holy Ghost for whom we pray, 

And on rushing, mighty wings, 



24 THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. 

Gift of seven-fold gifts he brings, 
And His coming marks the birth 
Of the Holy Church on earth. 
Now our Jesus' mission ended, 
Be our triune praises blended 
To the Father and the Son 
And the Holy Ghost in One. 
Holy ! Holy ! Holy ! cry 
On the Feast of Trinity ; 
And till Advent comes again 
Alleluia be our strain ! 



JESUS, MY EEFUGE. 

TESTIS, my Refuge, to the secret places 
^ Where Thou dost hide I flee. 
To learn Thy blessed Truth, from all the mazes 
Of human thought set free. 

Without denial and without refraining 

I must receive Thy word ; 
Not what Thou meanest after man's explaining. 

But what Thou sayest. Lord. 

Shut from the strife of tongues that yield con- 
fusion 

Quick grows the inward ear 
Thy sweet assurance, stripped of all delusion. 

In humble faith to hear. 

In mysteries beyond the dim perceiving 

Of Reason's clouded eyes, 
Thou dost reveal Thyself to souls believing, 

Too loving for disguise. 

25 



26 JESUS, 31 F REFUGE. 

And oh, how loving, dearest Lord, how tender 

Beyond all love Thou art 
When to Thy feet we cling in full surrender, 

With sorrow-broken heart ! 



Absolving, healing, strengthening, uniting, 

Through sacramental grace. 
And to communion closer yet inviting. 

Thou dost unveil Thy face. 

For faith alone low-kneeling in contrition 

The load of sin grows light ; 
To faith alone Thou dost vouchsafe that vision. 

And faith is almost sight. 



THE HOUSE OF GOD. 

THE Lord's own Temple ! in His Holy Name 
What reverent steps its very pavements 
claim ! 
Oh, enter softly ! He who here abides 
Erom mortal eyes His form, His glory hides ; 
Yet all around in all these fair designs 
His Name is written in mysterious lines, 
And everywhere the sacred symbols speak 
Of Him whom all may find who truly seek. 
Here human art attains its loftiest reach, 
Eternal truths to shadow forth and teach ; 
And beauty here in sweet constraint doth dwell, 
Where every color teaches truth as well ; 
And even the unlettered here may learn, 
Led by Devotion's hand at every turn. 

These steadfast stones the " living stones " declare 
Whereof is built a temple far more fair, 
Whose corner-stone is Christ ; whose piers un- 
seen. 
The same to-day as they have ever been, 
Are. Prophets and Apostles, — noble line. 
The Church's firm foundations to define ! 

27 



28 THE HOUSE OF GOD. 

Witliin these walls what peace! (Christ is our 

Peace !) 
What silence reigns where earthly noises cease ! 
Silence wherethrough we almost hear the sound 
Of angels thronging all the sacred ground. 

Here at the portal pause and reverent gaze : 

A holy order all the place displays. 

The triple length, the triple breadth and height 

Proclaim one mystery to the wondering sight, 

That, scaling pillar, arch, and window fair, 

Seeks the vast roof to find the One God there ; 

Then from that lofty height in awe descends 

To mark how majest}^ with mercy blends ; 

In nave and choir and transept arms stretched wide, 

Behold the symbol of the Crucified ; 

And in the kneeling throng, in mystery. 

His Body one with Him its Head on high. 

Sharing His Cross to share at last His Crown, — 

The Life He won for us through life laid down. 

See, many-hued and glorious the beams 
Of heavenly light that on the darkness streams, 
E-eveals the blazoned pane, and lends a glow 
To recess dim and shadowed aisle below ; 
An ever-shifting, never-changing flood. 
To touch our every sense, our every mood ; 
As the sweet Gospel answers every need 
And on our darkness pours the light indeed ! 



THE HOUSE OF GOD. 29 

Here stands the Font, placed just within the door, 
To say to all who pass the threshold o'er : 
Ye who the Church of God would enter, know 
One only way our Saviour Christ did show — 
By holy baptism ; this the lowly gate 
For helpless infancy and man's estate ; 
For since God's grace alone can lead them in. 
Wisdom and age like babes must entrance win. 
Here stands the Font, and here the Heavenly Dove, 
Its depths to sanctify, on wings of love 
Hovers unseen. Beneath this cleansing wave 
Doth God regenerate whom He would save ; 
Through this fair tide He calleth all to pass 
Into His Kingdom ; this the sea of glass 
Before His altar-throne that far away 
Beyond the nave, the choir, in fair array. 
Within the rood-screen lifts its gleaming height, 
And floods the space around with sacred light. 
As the White Throne and He who sits thereon 
Fill Heaven with majesty above the sun. 
And like the rainbow round the Throne appear 
The changing colors of the Christian year 
As all the holy seasons come and go. 
And o'er the Altar hues symbolic throw : 
Violet when mourns the Church a penitent 
Through solemn fasts of Advent and of Lent, 
And all the lesser vigils that she keeps 
When o'er her sins for Jesus' sake she weeps ; 
Through Christmas-, Easter-, and Ascension-tide, 



30 THE HOUSE OF GOD. 

And many a holy-day that falls beside, 
Symbol of purity, of joy, of light. 
Of victory and peace, white, — shining ivhite ; 
And red for Whitsun-tide, the hue of flame, — 
B,ed for the saints who martyrs too became ; 
While green, that tells of hope that cannot die. 
Greets the exultant gaze through Trinity. 
Once, only once, through all the changing year 
(Save for some burial hour) doth black appear ; 
As Jesus bore our sins upon the Tree, 
That Day the altar draped in woe we see. 
Elsewhere two colors changing not abound 
On frescoed walls and pictured saints surround. 
The blue of heavenly truth, the burning red 
Of holy ardor, — these the Church have led 
Through martyr fires and persecutions dread ; 
And all unclouded still the Truth doth shine. 
Still glows the ardor, fed by grace divine. 
Eastward the nave extending mutely saith : 
Lo, there He rose triumphant over death ; 
The Light of light, the Sun of Righteousness, 
Whom nations long in darkness hid confess. 
Thence He with all His angels shall descend 
In the Great Day when time itself shall end ! 
Ever through solemn fast and gladsome feast 
The Church expectant worships toward the east. 
In prayers and praises mingling joy and dread 
Of Him who comes to judge both quick and dead, 
Who doth a place beside His Throne prepare 



THE HOUSE OF GOD. 31 

For her, His Bride, to be exalted there, 

And keeps with her meanwhile His awful tryst 

Beneath the shadow of the Eucharist. 

Within the nave the pulpit fair uprears, 

Whence the glad message whoso hearkens hears ; 

As from the stone forever rolled away 

The angel of the Resurrection Day 

Proclaimed the tidings of the Risen Lord, 

The crowning miracle that should afford 

No room for doubt, and for denial none, — 

Eternal life, eternal victory won. 

The steps from nave to choir that upward lead 
Teach us humility, and bid us heed 
How we regard the Heaven-appointed priest 
Who at the altar serves ; though he be least 
'Mong men, he standeth in the Lord's own stead 
When in His Name he breaks the holy Bread, 
And with the Hidden Manna duly feeds 
The hungry flock that follows where he leads. 
Yea, in the Name and Person of the Lord 
He breaks the Bread and he proclaims the Word ; 
'T is from his hand the stream Baptismal flows, 
Pardon he speaks and peace, Christ's peace, be- 
stows. 

Within the choir mark first the lectern stand, 
The stalls and prayer-desks ranged on either hand ; 
Here lies the Holy Book whose mysteries 



32 THE HOUSE OF GOD. 

Are sealed to many a scholar great and wise, 

But to the children of the Kingdom yield 

The priceless treasures even on earth revealed. 

Fair and more fair behold the place appear 

As to the holiest our feet draw near ; 

Each least detail how beautiful to trace, 

And learn the moulding touch of Heavenly grace. 

See, too, how oft the varied cross we find, 

That pleads on every hand. Leave all behind. 

Three steps again ascending seem to say, 

Thus must the pilgrim mount the Heavenward 

way; 
By faith, hope, charity, — these three ; 
The last is first ; the chiefest, charity, 
Whose one supremest height He reached alone 
As Man who only could for man atone. 
As unto Christ both Priest and Sacrifice 
The earth's wide ends must turn their countless 

eyes, 
So on the altar all the temple waits ; 
Here vision centres, worship culminates. 
To this His shrine the Church adoring brings 
Her richest gifts, her choicest offerings ; 
Her tribute gold, her myrrh of penitence. 
And in her praise the precious frankincense. 
And ever on " the altar trimmed aright " 
She tends with loving care each typic light. 
The God, the Man, unceasing to proclaim. 
While the mid-cross declares His saving Name. 



THE HOUSE OF GOD. 33 

House of God ! thy beauty half untold 
Is lost to many an eye that might behold, 
While many a tongue complains, This might be 

sold 
And given to the poor ; and men forget 
How like complaint by Christ Himself was met, 
And fail to mark how they who fairest make 
His temple, love His poor for Jesus' sake, 
In proof whereof they consecrate with care 
Their gifts to them upon His altar fair, 
That they with Him and He with them may share. 

Jesus, who hadst not where to lay Thy Head 
When Thou the pathways of Thy poor didst tread. 
Too mean for Thee the temples that we raise, 
Though echoing to centuries of praise ! 



THE VISION IN THE CHALICE. 

INSCRIBED TO H. E. H. 

HTHE priest before the Altar 
-'- Stood with uplifted eyes, 
His heart deep stirred within him, 
To offer the sacrifice. 

The morning's golden splendor 

Through the chancel window streamed 
Till like masses of precious jewels 

The radiant colors seemed. 

But around the central picture 
Of the Christ upon the Rood 

It shone like a wondrous halo 
As the priest upgazing stood. 

The prayer of consecration 

Began he low and clear, 
And at the mystic sentence 

Bowed down in holy fear ; 

Bowed lowly over the Paten, 

As he took in his hands the Bread ; 

And likewise the mystic sentence 
Over the Cup he said. 
34 



THE VISION IN THE CHALICE. 35 

When lo ! in the golden Chalice, 

Distinct in the purple wine, 
He saw reflected the image 

Of the Crucified Form Divine. 

Filled with a sudden tremor, 

His eyes deep -fixed on the sight, 
Scarcely the prayer he followed 

Or knew if he said it aright. 

Trembling with adoration 

He lifted the Chalice high, 
As upholding the sacred Burden 

Between the earth and the sky. 

And still when the Chalice he lowered, 

Distinct in the purple wine, 
From the chancel windows reflected 

He saw the Imagre Divine. 



"O' 



Did he hear in the hush that followed 

The words of the Lord anew, 
Brought down by the Church through the ages, 

The mystical charge, " This do " ? 

Did he hear from the Holy of holies. 

The secret, eternal shrine, 
The Priest who is Priest forever 

Kenew the assurance divine ? — 



36 THE VISION IN THE CHALICE. 

" Lo ! I am with you alway, 

Blessing the Cup that you bless ; 

Under the Bread you have broken 
My Presence proclaim and confess. 

" Lo ! I am with you alway, 
Mine own command to fulfil ; 

I am the Sacrifice offered, 

The Priest and the Victim still. 

" Lo ! I am with you alway, 

Feeding the flock that you feed, 

My Flesh the manna unfailing, 
My Blood the drink indeed." 

blessed, wondrous commission ! 

It seemed to the lowly priest 
Like a precious new revelation, 

As he shared with his flock that Feast. 

And ever enshrined in his bosom 
He treasures with holy awe 

The memory of the vision 

That veiled in the Chalice he saw 



\ 



THE DIVINE PUEPOSE. 

A S springs that feed our lives unseen 
"^^ And keep their daily pastures green, 
All-gracious Lord, Thy mercies flow ; 
Before we ask Thou dost bestow. 

And thus with gifts as well as grace 
Thou winnest us to seek Thy Face, 
And kneeling low Thy care to own, 
And make our dearest wishes known. 

No voice of prayer to Thee can rise, 
But swift as light Thy Love replies ; 
Not always what we ask, indeed, 
But, Most Kind ! what most we need. 

When we beseech the good that might, 
Because of self, some sweet hope blight. 
Some holy impulse turn astray, 
Thy tender purpose answers. Nay. 

For bread may nourish less than stone, 
If eaten thankless or alone ; 
And many a pure, desired thing 
Might prove a snare or hide a sting. 

37 



38 THE DIVINE PURPOSE. 

But Thou, Saviour pitiful, 
Who seest us so blind and dull, 
Constrainest us with mercies still 
To seek alone Thy Holy Will. 

Oh, soon or late how sweet to learn 
It is that Will for which we yearn, 
When yielding to its sway Divine 
We have no wish ajiart from Thine ! 



JESUS, THE LADDER OF MY FAITH." 

T ESUS, the ladder of my faith 
J Rests on the jasper walls of Heaven ; 
And through the veiling clouds I catch 
Faint visions of the mystic Seven. 

The glory of the rainhowed Throne 

Illumes those clouds like lambent flame, 

As once on earth Thy Love divine 

Burned through the robes of human shame. 

Thou art the same, gracious Lord, 

The same dear Christ that Thou wert then, 

And all the praises angels sing 

Delight Thee less than prayers of men. 

We have no tears Thou wilt not dry ; 

We have no wounds Thou wilt not heal ; 
No sorrows pierce our human hearts 

That Thou, dear Saviour, dost not feel. 

Thy pity like the dew distils, 

And Thy compassion like tlie light 

Our every morning overfills, 

And crowns with stars our every night. 

39 



40 "JESUS, THE LAD DEB OF MY FAITH:' 

Let not the world's rude conflict drown 
The charmed music of Thy voice 

That calls all weary ones to rest, 
And bids all mourning souls rejoice. 



"THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS." 

OCATTERED through the holy Year 
^^ The Church's holy-days appear, 
Sacred to the chief among 
That innumerable throng 
Of the blessed saints of God 
Who the way of sorrows trod. 
Sword-like flame and flame-like sword, 
Kavening beast and blood outpoured, 
Persecutions manifold, 
More than page hath ever told, 
Eor the love of Christ they bore 
Who can suffer now no more, 
But at rest in Paradise 
Drink of endless victories. 
Parted from our sight are they. 
Yet a cloud of witnesses 
Do they watch us on the way 
Where our foes unnumbered press. 
One with us, their words of cheer 
Ever reach us struggling here ; 
One with us, their every name 
Puts our laggard strife to shame. 
While those names she still repeats 
Year by year, the Church entreats : 

41 



42 ''THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS." 

Fight as they, forsaking all ; 

Rack nor cross could them appall. 

Warfare or within, without, 

In their ears was victory's shout; 

Whatso treasure they possessed 

Dross became through Christ confessed ; 

Poverty was wealth, and pain 

Pledge of everlasting gain ; 

Bitterness was sweet to taste ; 

Torture slow was heavenly haste ; 

While their Captain glorious, 

Over all victorious. 

Fought with them, and in His strength 

Made them conquerors at length. 

Now, as then, the battle rages ; 
Christians still the Foe engages ; 
Though he colors change and name, 
Is that deadly Foe the same. 
Seven-fold the might he wields 
O'er the victim soul that yields ; 
But with seven-fold armor clad, 
Shall the true and valiant smite, 
And put the evil powers to flight ; 
While the tidings, swift and glad, 
Ring through all the realms of light 
Where the Church's grand procession 
From her holy ranks below 
Daily swelled in calm possession 



" TBE COMMUNION OF SAINTS.'' 43 

Waits the final overthrow 
Of the fierce but doomed Foe. 

Not with open, loud assault 

Draws the Adversarj^ near ; 

Oft advancing seems to halt, 

Now through flatter}^ now through fear ; 

Under cover of the night 

Darkness makes he fair as light ; 

Now through pomp and now through pride 

Lures he many a soul aside ; 

Now through ease he whispereth, 

Every word a shaft of death ; 

Through the flesh unceasingly 

Do his secret arrows fly ; 

In the heart he refuge takes, 

And his strongest stronghold makes. 

Watch and pray, the Church entreats, 

And those chiefest names repeats 

Of the Army of the Lord, 

Us examples to afford. 

Watch and pray, the Church entreats ; 

Stand ye fast and be ye strong ; 

Imitate my glorious throng. 

They my firm foundations made, 

Christ Himself the corner-stone ; 

Ye as living stones are laid. 

Age by age and one by one, 



44 " THE COMMUNION OF SAlNTSr 

Pledged the Faith to keep, thereon. 

Joined together each and all 

As a temple mystical, 

Let your holy unity 

Mirror each and each the whole. 

While the waves that round you roll 

Of unbelief and heresy 

Vainly my foundations try. 

Watch and pray, my children, saith 

Holy Church. Be true till death 

To the once-delivered Faith ; 

With each other one, and one 

With the hosts whose toil is done, 

All my faithful souls and true 

Who have passed beyond j^our sight ! 

Let their ardor quicken you 

As 3^e press toward realms of light, 

Where in Paradise they wait, 

While the angel-guarded gate 

Ceaseless swings, to usher in 

Souls redeemed from death and sin. 

Ever through that viewless door 

One unbroken throng they pour, — 

One unbroken, moving column 

Through that entrance sweet and solemn, 

Night and day, and day and night, 

From the shadow to the light ; 

From the cross that each lays down 



''THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS:' 45 

To the ^' passionless renown/' 

E-obe of white, and palm, and crown. 

Night and day, and day and night, 

Countless souls in grand procession, 

One in Faith's sublime confession 

With the lesser ranks below 

Moving still against the Foe ; 

One in Hope no change can blight, 

Linked in mutual intercession ; 

One in Love's eternal might, 

Knit together each with all 

In His Body mystical ; 

One in Christ the Living Head, 

Of whose Life ye all partake, 

By whose grace ye all are fed 

And the one Communion make. 

Ye my little ones and lowly. 

Hid on earth in mean disguise. 

One with all my martyrs holy, 

Spotless robed in Paradise. 

Ye who in the thick of striving 

Fight my battles undismayed. 

By the proud world's proud contriving 

Of no reputation made. 

One with them, the virgin throng. 

Singing now the Lamb's New Song. 

Ye who suffer all temptation. 

Sin's assaults and tribulation. 

Overcoming all unseen, 



46 " THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS:' 

One with my Confessors brave 
Who have passed to realms serene, 
Where the palms of victory wave. 
There the first Apostles grand, 
Chiefest-crowned, a glorious band, 
There the angels bright that gather 
All the saints of God around, 
With the ever-blessed Mother 
Over all my hosts renowned, 
Welcome each and each the other 
As the tide of souls rolls in, 
And the songs anew begin 
That forever shall resound : 
Glory, honor, power, blessing, 
Wisdom, might, and praise unceasing 
To the King of kings addressing, 
Toward whose Kingdom still increasing 
Earth's remotest ends are pressing. 



HYMN FOR THE HOLY COMMUNION. 

A T this Thy banquet, Lord of all, 
'^ ^ May less than angel dare to sup ? 
The crumbs that from Thy Table fall 
Unworthy we to gather up. 

Yet, oh, too poor to turn away, 

Too glad to own Thy gracious claim. 

We stay because Thou bid'st us stay 
Despite our garb of want and shame ! 

Before Thine Altar kneeling low 
We bare our sinful hands to Thine ; 

O Holy Lord, Thy pity show 

And cleanse us with Thy touch Divine. 

Fill Thou these empty palms with food, 
The Bread Thou givest from above ; 

This cup with Thy most precious Blood, 
The wine of Thy atoning love. 

The hunger and the thirst we plead 
No meaner feast could satisf}^ ; 

Saviour, in our utter need 

Thou, Thou must feed us or we die. 

47 



THE COMMUNION OF THE SICK. 

INSCRIBED TO H. E. H. 

r\ PEIEST beloved ! a favored guest, 
^— ' Bidden of thee, how oft I kneel 
Where some poor sufferer distressed 
Looks to thy hand to soothe and heal ! 

His sacramental coming there 

God's messenger of pain precedes, 

The shadowed chamber to prepare, 
And fit it for the Master's needs. 

" Arise and walk," thou dost not say, 
But thou the Bread of Life dost break 

To strengthen souls upon their way, 
Their thirst with Wine immortal slake. 

The humble table by the bed, 

Followed sometimes by djdng eyes, 

How often have I seen thee spread, 
And offer there the sacrifice. 

How often from thy reverent hands 
Received the Manna veiled from view ', 

Then by the sick one seen thee stand 
And feed him with that Manna true. 

48 



THE COMMUNION OF THE SICK. 49 

How often when the gracious Cup 
From me has passed, have I beheld 

Thee lift the weary sufferer up 

To drink the hidden stream that welled ! 

How often have I seen the face 

Beneath thy blessing brighter grow 

When the poor soul received the peace 
Thou art commissioned to bestow ! 

And ever springs this thought of mine : 
Jesus, how gracious Thou to come 

Not only to Thy temple's shrine 
But even to the meanest home ! 

And who am I, that unto me 
Occasions fall that others miss ? 

But, Lord, my need is known to Thee ; 
Thy answer must be hid in this ! 

O priest beloved ! to Him I owe 
For these unwonted hours of grace 

Such love as deeds can never show ; 
Pray that my love may grow apace ! 

To follow on thy lowly rounds, 
Oh, pray that I may worthier be, 

And where Christ's suffering ones are found 
Still, for His sake, make room for me. 



INTEERUPTED ZEAL. 

According to the mind of God, our perfection does not 
depend upon our doing much. This was Martha's error 
which our Lord Jesus Christ rebuked. — Bouedaloue. 

T ORD, is my service at an end ? 
•^~^ I am so slow to comprehend ! 
Why comes this pause that seems to say 
Thou hast no work for me to-day ? 

Do I not hoard my time for Thee ? 

Do not my hand and heart agree 

To yield to Thee their best, their all ? 

Dear Lord, why hast Thou ceased to call ? 

There comes no beggar to my gate 
Eor whom my halved loaf doth wait 5 
I know no creature suffering 
Eor cheer that haply I might bring. 

Where lies my load of precious care ? 
Whose are the tears that I might share ? 
Or whose the joy that I might make 
My equal joy for Thy sweet sake ? 
50 



INTERRUPTED ZEAL. 51 

Tlie world is just as full of woe, 
Eor sin in hand with grief must go ; 
But now the world seems distant grown, 
And I unneeded and alone. 

Ah ! now Thou dost Thy will reveal 
To interrupt my restless zeal, 
That I in solitude may heed 
My own, my all-surpassing need. 

^' Much serving " often hinders love, 
And care forgetfulness may prove ; 
The busy hand may cheat the heart 
That else might choose the better part. 

Who waits in holy idleness 
Can never learn to serve Thee less. 
But rather learns how poor, how vain. 
Is all he hath accounted gain. 

Strive as I may, my every toil 
Some lurking vanity will spoil ; 
Self-love doth ever enter in 
To steal what I for Thee may win. 

Then give me, Lord, no work to-day, 
But give what none can take away, — 
The portion evermore most sweet, 
To sit like Mary at Thy feet. 



52 INTERRUPTED ZEAL. 

And quicken Thou my inward ear 
That I like her Thy Word may hear 
In inward silence that shall drown 
All voices other than Thine own. 

The soul that seeks no end but this 
The end of zeal can never miss, 
But even amidst her toil shall be 
In holy solitude with Thee. 



A HYMN OF ADORATION. 

JESUS, Jesus, Jesus, 
High and lowly Son ; 
Son of blessed Mary 

And of God in one ; 
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, 
Hail, Son ! 

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, 
Living Bread Divine, 

Feast for holy hunger. 
Be that hunger mine ; 

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, 
Bread Divine ! 

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, 
Fount forever filled. 

In Thy streams of mercy 
Shall my thirst be stilled. 

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, 
Fount once filled ! 

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, 

Spotless Lamb once slain, 
Yet for us unceasing 

Offered again j 

53 



54 A HYMN OF ADORATION. 

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, 
Lamb once slain ! 

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, 

Victim, Priest, and Lord ; 

Endless satisfaction 
Endlessly adored ; 

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, 
Saviour, Lord ! 

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, 

Name of names most sweet ; 

Tremble with thanksgiving, 
Tongue that may repeat — 

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, 
Name most sweet. 

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, 
God of God art Thou ; 

Low in adoration 

At Thy Name we bow ; 

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, 
God art Thou ! 

Eather, Son, and Spirit, 
Blessed Three in One 

Whose unending praises 
Never were begun ; 

Holy, Holy, Holy, 
Three in One ! 



"GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY 
BEEAD." 

/^NE longing fills my heart that else 
^-^ With earthly cravings would o'erflow ; 
One pure desire within me dwells 

Amid desires I would forego ; 
One longing deep that day by day 
Sweeps every lesser wish away. 

It is not that I choose no more 
Between the shadow and the sun ; 

That vanities no longer lure ; 

That sweet and bitter are as one ? 

But that this longing day by day 

Sweeps every lesser wish away. 

If now I triumph, now I fail, 
Or now attain an inward peace, 

If now temptations sore assail, 

All things this longing but increase ; 

And oh ! this longing day by day 

All gains, all losses doth outweigh. 

55 



56 "GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD:' 

It is for Thee, for Thee alone, 

Who art beyond all language dear; 

In life, in death, Thou only One 

Who stoopest low, who drawest near ; 

For Thee I hunger day by day, 

And pray the more the more I pray. 

Come, Daily Bread of gracious taste ; 

Sweet Manna endlessly supplied ; 
Thou hidden Joy that cannot waste ; 

Our Wayside Strength, however tried ; 
Come, Blessed Jesus, day by day, 
Lest we should faint beside the way ! 

Come, God and Saviour, to Thine own ; 

Revealed to Faith's anointed eyes, 
Make Thou Thy very Presence known 

Though veiled in holy mysteries ; 
And oh ! — the sum of all I pray — 
Sweep Thou at last the veil away ! 



"ANIMA CHRIST!." 

A PARAPHRASE. 

OOUL of Christ, unscathed by sin, 

^^ Touch me; make me white within! 

Sacred Body, mangled, slain, 

Save me ; suffer not in vain ! 

Blood of Christ, my " drink indeed," 

Stay me ; on thy strength I feed ! 

Water from that riven side. 

Wash me ; wash me, cleansing tide ! 

Holy wounds, my entrance win ; 

Sweetest place to hide me in ! 

Broken heart, my fortress be 

When the foe oppresseth me ! 

When at last I yield my breath, 

Jesus, bid me rise from death ! 

With Thy saints, a countless throng, 

Let me sing the endless song ; 

Ever and forevermore 

Love and laud Thee and adore ! 



57 



HIS EEST. 

'C^AIE, is the world wherein we dwell, 
-^ And day and night 

Crown miracle with miracle 

Of new delight ; 

Almost it seems 

A world of dreams. 



But, oh ! the World of worlds that lies 

This world outside, 
Whose splendors to these human eyes 

Are yet denied. 

And seer and saint 

Have failed to paint ! 

" Eye hath not seen," our tongues repeat, 
In rapt belief, 
When earth blooms fairest round our feet, 
And sin and grief 
Withhold their power 
Some little hour. 
58 



HIS REST. 59 

But when the heart grows sick with pain, 

The burden sore, 
And all our labor seems in vain, 

And o'er and o'er 

The sin we fight 

Keturns with might ; 

When loss and sickness touch us close, 

And death draws near 
To take not us, perhaps, but those 

Than self more dear; 

When some swift blow 

Doth lay us low ; 



Or long discouragement or strife 
Doth wear away 

The ardor and the joy of life. 
Do what we may ; 
And many woes 
Our doubts disclose — 



Far more than glories unconceived 
Beyond the grave, 

His rest in whom we have believed 
Is what we crave : 
By night and day 
For rest we pray. 



60 HIS REST, 

O blessed world ! we cry, uncrossed 

By grief or sin, 
How will these souls now tempted, tossed, 

Kejoice to win 

Those shores that shine 

With peace divine ! 

Jesus, most tried, most tempted One, 

Dear sinless Lord, 
What toil was Thine beneath the sun ! 

By scourge and cord. 

And bitter food. 

And cruel rood, 



That Heavenly Kest for us was bought ; 

And, oh ! that we 
Might count our light affliction nought 

In following Thee, 

And here below 

Its sweetness know ! 



That sweetness, dearest Lord, at least 
One hour may bring. 

When to Thy Presence in the Feast 
Divine we cling, 
And wondrously 
Commune with Thee ! 



HIS REST. 61 

precious foretaste, Heaven brought near, 

Within our reach, 
When, though no glory doth appear 

Surpassing speech, 

The soul oppressed 

Finds here Thy Rest ! 



ADVENT SONG OF THE FAITHFUL. 



Tyy EAEY ? ISTay, not weary yet ; 

He will come. 
Promising, can He forget ? 

Oh, He will come ! 
Counting not the days or years, 
Wait we till our Lord appears. 



Everywhere we know is strife — 

He will come ! — 
Angry clash of life with life ; 

But He will come, — 
He whose kingdom is of peace ; 
Peace must conquer, hate must cease. 

Powers must tremble ; swords must fail 

He will come ; 
Then can hell itself prevail 

When He is come ? 
Darkness reigns, but He is Light — 
He who shall all darkness smite. 
62 



ADVENT SONG OF THE FAITHFUL. 63 

In His love our lives we hide — 

He will come ; 
By His promises abide, 

For He will come. 
Our inheritance is sure ; 
Marvel ye that we endure ? 

Watch ye all beneath the sun — 

He will come ! — 
Winning what ye ne'er have won 

When He shall come; 
Better things than life hath brought, 
Greater things than time hath wrought. 

Life and time will fleet away ; 

He will come ; 
Then your nay must still be nay 

When He is come ; 
Till that day He intercedes ; 
Still as on His cross He pleads. 

Watch ! and if the hours seem long 

Till He come, 
Sing with us Faith's perfect song : 

"Lord Jesus, come ! " 
Sweet, oh, sweet the time if we 
Watching, faithful grow as He ! 



THE ANNUNCIATIOK 

(MARCH 25th.) 

r\ MAKY, Maid of Nazareth, 

^-^ Who hearest with suspended breath 

The message mighty Gabriel 

Brings to thy lowly virgin cell ; 

In silence and in solitude 
Where saint nor seraph dare intrude, 
Thou, truest handmaid of the Lord, 
Dost hearken and receive the Word. 

Then swiftly, but with awe-winged feet. 
Thou goest forth from thy retreat 
To her whose salutation still * 
Thrills Hebron's vale from hill to hill. 

There first thy wonder turns to song 
That all the ages shall prolong 
Beyond the untold bounds of time, 
In its humility sublime. 

With God's supremest favor crowned, 
Pursuing still thy daily round 
Of simple duties simply done, 
Thou dost await the promised Son. 
64 



TH^ ANNUNCIATION. 65 

Dear Mother of the Lord's own choice, 
He comes in whom thou dost "rejoice," — 
Thy Saviour and thy God, to be 
Eocked as thy Babe upon thy knee. 

O Mary, Maid of Nazareth, 

Not only hath Elizabeth 

Proclaimed thee "blessed;" from that day 

"All generations" "blessed" say. 

Yea, blessed as the instrument 
Of the Almighty's vast intent ; 
And blessed in the purity 
Wherewith His grace invested thee ; 

Blessed in meek obedience 
That bowed to His omnipotence ; 
Blessed in thy surrendered will ; 
In perfect faith more blessed still ; 

Blessed in thy humility 
That cast all earthly honors by — 
The lofty pride of David's line — 
To worship at thy Saviour's shrine. 

Blessed of all His creatures thou 
Whom with such grace He did endow 
That all thy earthly life was spent 
Like one unbroken sacrament. 



66 THE ANNUNCIATION. 

Turn we, O Mary, from thy face 
To praise Him for that wondrous grace, 
And crave humility like thine 
Obedient to the Will Divine. 

The least in all Thy Kingdom, Lord, — 
It is Thy own. Thy very word ! — 
The least may do Thy will, and be 
Like her a follower of Thee. 

Too wonderful it seems, indeed ; 
Thy Mother all Thy saints doth lead ; 
Can such as we a place attain 
In the long splendor of that train ? 



CHRISTMAS POEMS AND CAROLS. 



THE NATIVITY. 

BENEATH the dark expectant skies, while 
crowded Bethlehem slept, 
Their sleeping flocks in quiet fields the faithful 

shepherds kept, 
When round about them, suddenly, there shone a 

glorious light, 
And in the midst an Angel stood, majestical and 
bright. 

What mortal eye could look un dazed ! what mortal 

ear could hear 
The voice most sweet, most terrible in sweetness, 

without fear ! 
While on the wide Judean hills the reverent winds 

were stayed, 
Prostrate the humble shepherds fell, for they were 

sore afraid. 

" Fear not ; behold, I bring you joy ! " the Angel 

spake and smiled ; 
"To you this day in David's town is born the 

promised Child ; 

69 



70 CHRISTMAS POEMS AND CAROLS. 

A Saviour, even Christ the Lord, and this shall be 

the sign — 
Ye in a manger lowly laid shall find the Babe 

Divine." 



And with the Angel, lo ! a host of shining ones 

was seen, 
Chanting, "All glory be to God, as it hath ever 

been ; 
Glory to God, on earth be peace, and unto men 

good-will," 
They sang, in splendor vanishing, and all grew 

dark and still. 



Amazed the shepherds heard, and rose and made 

with haste their way 
To where, within the stable walls, the world's 

Redeemer lay; 
Nor wider space nor fairer place had earth to 

spare for Him 
Whose Throne from everlasting burned, rayed 

round with seraphim. 

While softly raining out of heaven, in silver 
cadences 

Flowed down those sweet angelic strains pro- 
claiming joy and peace ; 



CHRISTMAS POEMS AND CAROLS. 71 

Her rapture swelling into tears, the trembling 
Mother bent 

Above her Child, her Holy One, in awe and won- 
derment. 



And if a cloud of radiance filled the consecrated 

place, 
That cloud was darkness in her eyes, long-dwelling 

on His face ; 
Her tranced vision scarce withdrawn when the 

glad shepherds came, 
Beheld the Babe and glorified the One Eternal 

Name. 



And was the Word, indeed, made flesh ? Ever- 
lasting Lord ! 

Prince of Peace ! Mighty God, forevermore 
adored ! 

Who reckoning unreckoned bliss cast all His 
glory by 

"\Yhen from the prison-house of sin He heard the 
captive cry ! 

Love, that no created love can ever compre- 
hend, 

Outreaching life's dark uttermost, bounding the 
endless end ; 



72 CHRISTMAS POEMS AND CAROLS. 

That condescended to the low from Height above 

all height, 
And bosomed in a blameless Babe brought into 

darkness light ! 



Wherever Christmas bells shall chime and Christ- 
mas cheer go round, 

Be grateful joy — not heedless mirth — in every 
dwelling found ; 

While Faith unveils her throbbing breast and 
closelier folds within 

The Holy Child whose sinlessness hath answered 
once for sin. 



The humblest home that He may find, the poorest 

heart of earth, 
Not meaner is than Bethlehem's stall made fair 

by Jesus' birth ; 
And light more marvellous shall stream into that 

house of clay. 
Abiding and abounding more unto the perfect 

day. 

Comfort to answer all desire and soothe the 

sharpest pain, 
A rest to weariness, and ease to such as do 

complain, 



CHRISTMAS POEMS AND CAROLS. 73 

Bread to the hungry, and to them that thirst a 

living well, 
The Saviour with His neediest ones doth most 

delight to dwell. 



He houoreth not the place of pride, but seeketh 

lowly doors, 
And love, the sweet return of love, is all that He 

implores ; 
The love that waiting on His word doth evermore 

increase. 
And magnify in daily life the angels' song of 

peace. 

Wherever Christmas greetings flow and Christmas 

cheer goes round, 
Let charity in gracious deeds and gracious thoughts 

abound ; 
And Zion, garlanding her gates, put on her glad 

array, 
And celebrate with psalms of joy Emmanuel's natal 

day. 

Christ, Most High ! Incarnate God ! Meek Babe 

of Bethlehem ! 
To whom all angels cry aloud, Thy glory shadowing 

them, 



74 CHRISTMAS POEMS AND CAROLS. 

Hear, through the praise of heaven, the praise of 

Thy redeemed earth 
Whose desert places yet shall sing for joy of 

Jesus' birth ! 



"CHRIST IS BORN OE BLESSED MARY." 



/^HRIST is born of Blessed Mary ! 
^-^ Sing the wondrous Life begun ! 
Man Divine and God Incarnate ! 

Israel, lo ! thy Holy One ! 
Now fulfilled the Prophet's vision ! 

See the Child, the Lord of all, 
Stript, indeed, of Heavenly splendor, 

Choosing for His couch a stall. 
Hail, Messiah, Hail ! 
All Hail ! 

Thou, Israel's God and Saviour, 

Verily Thyself dost hide ; 
Clad in flesh, disguised in weakness, 

All Thou hast by earth supplied. 
Very God from everlasting 

As a helpless Babe revealed, 
Mary's breast Thy transient pillow, 
Mary's arms Thy only shield ! 

Hail, Emmanuel, Hail ! 
AU Hail ! 

75 



76 CHRISTMAS POEMS AND CAROLS. 

Wonderful the Seer proclaimed Thee, 

Mighty God, and Prince of Peace, 
King whose everlasting Kingdom 

Shall forevermore increase ! 
Yet no royal sign or title 

Could Thy boundless grace declare 
Like that Name of endless sweetness 

Thou for us alone dost bear. 

Jesus, Jesus, Hail ! 
All Hail ! 

Jesus ! — Saviour of His People ! 

Jesus ! — Shepherd of His Flock ! 
Well of Life, and Hidden Manna ; 

Wayside Strength, and Tower of Pock, 
Jesus, see Thy Church adoring 

Prostrate at Thine infant feet. 
Her Pedeemer's praise outpouring 

In that Name of Names most sweet ! 
Jesus, Jesus, Hail ! 
All Hail ! 



RING, SWEET BELLS OF CHKIS- 
TENDOM." 

"D ING, sweet bells of Christendom, 
•*'^ Everywhere the tidings tell 
How the Lord to earth did come — 
Ring and tell ! 

Swift to seek and save the lost, 

More than merciful He came ; 
Glad to pay life's bitter cost 
Jesus came. 

Prince of Peace, the Heavenly King, 

As a mortal babe disguised 
He appeared whom angels sing — 
Earth-disguised. 

Love Divine in human frame, 

Of the lowly lowliest He ; 
Stript of glory, in His shame 
Gloried He. 

Empty-handed from His birth, 

Gifts exceeding price He brought ; 
Treasures hidden not in earth 
Jesus brought. 

77 



78 CHRISTMAS POEMS AND CAROLS. 

To the blind, unclouded sight ; 

To the dumb, the voice of praise ; 
And to all in darkness, light — 
Joy and praise. 

To the poor, the Gospel's wealth ; 

To the rich, the spirit poor ; 
And to all His saving health — 
Kich and poor. 

To the heavy-laden, rest ; 

To the mourner, words of life ; 
And to all — the last and best — 
Endless life. 

In the perfect path He trod, 

Still His footprints mark the way ; 
Out to men and up to God 
Show the way. 

Out to men in love that breaks 

Bread of charity with all, 
And — thrice blessed then ! — forsakes 
Self for all. 

Up to God in deeds like prayers, 

In obedience to Him, 
And in faith — love's altar-stairs 
E-eared to Him. 



CHRISTMAS POEMS AND CAROLS. 79 

Ring, sweet bells of Christendom, 

Far and near the tidings tell 
How the Lord to earth did come — 
E-ing and tell ! 

Join, good Christians, east and west, 

In Emmanuel's endless praise, 
And with deeds of mercy best 
Show His praise ! 

Still the Christmas angels sing : 

"Glory be to God Most High !" 
The eternal echoes ring : 

" God Most High ! " 

Lift your songs in unison : 

" Peace on earth, good-will to men ! " 
Mingle song and life in one 
Wide ^'Amenf 



"GLOEIA IN EXCELSIS." 

r^LOBIA in Excelsis ! 

Ring the children's voices ; 
Full of happy wonder 

Heart with heart rejoices ; 
For the Christ-Child comes to-day 
With the babes of earth to play ; 

Comes, the Son of Mary. 

Gloria in Excelsis ! 

Murmur tearful voices ; 
Yea, despite its sorrow 

Yet the earth rejoices ; 
For the Christ-Child's holy face 
Sweetest shines in saddest place ; 

Gracious Son of Mary ! 

Gloria in Excelsis ! 

Chime the thankful voices j 
Once a year the poor man 

At his hearth rejoices ; 
For the Christ-Child comes to throw 
E-ound that hearth a tender glow ; 

Lowly Son of Mary ! 
80 



CHRISTMAS POEMS AND CAROLS. 81 

Gloria in Excelsis ! 

Chant adoring voices ; 
Eound the sacred Altar 

Heaven with earth rejoices ; 
Men and angels carolling 
Crown the Christ-Child Lord and Kingj 

Crown the Son of Mary. 

Gloria in Excelsis ! 

Who but hears the voices ! 
Swayed by mirth so holy 

All that lives rejoices. 
Fast indeed the door must be 
That will open not to Thee, 

Jesus, Son of Mary ! 



"WHILE ALL AROUND THE HAPPY 
EAETH/' 

TO H. E. H. 

T 'X 7HILE all around the happy earth 

^ ' The Christmas bells are pealing clear, 
And countless voices carol forth 
The tidings of the Christ-Child's birth, 
I know your heart is hushed to hear 
The choir of angels drawing near, 
As in the olden time descending 
To sing the song that knows no ending : 
^'Gloria in Excelsis." 

The merry tumult of the time, 

The gifts poured out, the greetings sweet. 

The Christmas greens in fragrant prime, 

The happy haste, the vocal chime. 
As friend with friend together meet. 
The countless sounds of hearth and street, 

All in your thoughts unconscious blending 

Echo the song that knows no ending : 
" Gloria in Excelsis.''^ 
82 



CHRISTMAS POEMS AND CAROLS. 83 

So tonclied by all, yet undelaj^ed 

By mirth that swayeth to and fro, 
Through paths by meditation made 
More fair than fairest sylvan shade, 
I know to Bethlehem even now 
Straightway in holy haste you go. 
And o'er the Babe in worship bending 
You join the song that knows no ending: 
" Gloria in ExcelsisJ^ 

priest beloved ! where you lead 
Could your poor flock but follow on, 

We, too, should find the Lord indeed ; 

No longer would you vainly plead. 
But every soul to Him be won ; 
In every heart His reign begun ; 

And all our lives with your life blending 

Chime evermore the song unending : 
^'Gloria in ExcelsisJ^ 



''THE SWEETEST HYMN THAT EVER 

WAS SUNG.'' 

npHE sweetest hymn that ever was sung 
"■' Was the Hymn of the Christ-Child's birth, 
When that night of nights over Bethlehem hung, 

And angels came thronging to earth 

To herald the Christ-Child's birth. 

The brightest star that ever was seen 
Was the Star that led the way 

For the wise old kings to the cradle mean 
Where the Child Emmanuel lay, — 
The Star that showed them the way. 

Still sweetly echoes that sweetest Hymn 

Once sung in the ages afar, 
And over the wide earth altars gleam 

Enkindled by Bethlehem's Star 

That led the sages from far. 

And the Christ who came of old to His own 

As truly comes to them now, 
Where the faithful before His altar-throne 

With hearts believing bow, — 

Emmanuel^ then and now. 
84 



CHRISTMAS POEMS AND CAROLS. 85. 

Son of Mary ! Love Divine ! 

Whom the old kings hailed as King, 
All praise be Thine, and the fairest shrine, 

And the costliest gifts we can bring 

To Thee, Eternity's King ! 

The tribute-gold, as it was of old. 
Poured out, dear Lord, at Thy feet. 

And the incense of worship that will not grow cold, 
And the myrrh of penitence meet. 
All cast with ourselves at Thy feet ! 



MARY MOTHER. 

IV /T ORE than royal Guest He lay 
iVX Where the gentle kine made way 
Eor the Christ-Child meek as they. 

Knelt the Magi round His bed, 
Bowed low each proudest head ; 
Mary Mother pondered. 

Gold and frankincense and myrrh 
They the wise and great confer ; 
Jesus mild looks up to her ! 

What her gift ? Than nothing less ! 
Oh that she might crown and bless 
Him whom kings shall King confess ! 

Pierced as with woes to come 
At His feet her soul lies dumb, 
Love, of all she hath, the sum ! 

Blessed among women, thou 
Who, exalted most, dost bow 
Lowliest among the low ! 
86 



« ENDED THE VIGIL OF AGES." 

TENDED the vigil of ages, 
-*— ' Ended the Prophets' line ; 
Forth from the womb of the Virgin 
Cometh the Babe Divine. 

Out of the highest Heaven 
Down to the wondering earth 

Choirs of angels descending 
Carol the Christ-Child's birth. 

One with the Father Eternal 

Human the Name that He bears ; 

Godhead and Manhood united 

Veiled in the Flesh that He wears. 

This is the King Immortal 
Nation by nation shall seek ; 

Never a child so majestic, 
Never a prince so meek. 

Clad in Humility's vesture. 
Peace as His sceptre of might, 

Monarchs approaching His presence 
Prostrate shall fall at the sight. 

87 



88 CHRISTMAS POEMS AND CAROLS. 

Innocence wears He as ermine. 
Poverty maketli His crown, 

Love is the throne of His glory, 
Mercy His matchless renown. 

Homeless and laid in a manger, 
Seeming earth's pity to crave, 

Kuleth He still creation. 
Helpless, is mighty to save. 

Blessed henceforth are the lowly 
Who of His lowliness learn ; 

Blessed who showeth His mercy, 
Keaping His mercy in turn. 

Blessed henceforth who forsaketh 
Kindred and lands for His sake, 

Counting no burden too grievous 
Jesus may call him to take. 

Even a cup of cold water 
Unto His little ones given 

He shall return to the giver 

Filled from the fountains of Heaven. 

Blessed the least in His Kingdom 
More than the Prophets of old 

Who in the Babe of the mans:er 
Saviour, Jehovah behold. 



CHRISTMAS POEMS AND CAROLS, 89 

Fall at His feet, ye faithful, 

Worship the King of Kings ! 
Angels unnumbered adore Him 

Folding around you their wings. 

Sweeter and sweeter their carols 

Swelling with rapture arise ; 
Join in the joyful hosannas 

Circling the earth and the skies ! 



PEACE AND GOOD WILL, GOOD WILL 
AND PEACE." 



" pEACE and good will, good will and peace ! " 
•^ Year after year with sweet increase 

The heavenly carol swells : 
The holy tale of Jesu's birth 
In ever-widening circles earth 

With tongues unnumbered tells. 



Once more the vision glorified 
Appears with blessed Christmas-tide — 

The Virgin full of grace ; 
And in her arms the Child Divine, 
The God-Man born of David's line, 

New head of Adam's race. 

The very nature that we wear, 

His Godhead veiled, He stoops to share 

In great humility ; 
And angel legions round Him close 
And Heaven with boundless praise o'erflows 

That such a love could be. 
90 



CHRISTMAS POEMS AND CAROLS. 91 

But neither round His infant brow 
The crown of thorns (pre-woven now) 

Created eyes behold; 
Nor in those infant arms that reach 
In mute appeal, in lieu of speech, 

The cross those arms infold. 



Yet crown of thorns and holy rood 
(The tree of life, the mystic wood), 

His spotless sacrifice. 
His anguish and His triumph, all 
Are shadowed here in Bethlehem's stall 

Though hidden from our eyes. 



Here, too, begins His wondrous reign ; 
Confessors, martyrs, lead His train 

Of humble souls and pure ; 
Not of this world His Kingdom is j 
All others fade away, but His 

Forever shall endure. 



His sword is Truth, His armor Love ; 
His Spirit as a tender Dove 

Broods o'er this troubled life ; 
He pities, pardons, strengthens, feeds ; 
He binds the breaking heart that bleeds ; 

To peace transformeth strife. 



92 CHRISTMAS POEMS AND CAROLS 

Where'er the Marah waters spring 
Of want or wrong or suffering 
And men of Him entreat 



His cross all crimsoned with His blood 
He casts into the bitter flood 

And makes those waters sweet. 

"Peace and good will, good will and peace ! " 
What wonder that with glad increase 

The heavenly carol swells ; 
And on the story of His birth 
In ever-widening circles earth 

With wondering rapture dwells ! 



THE BLESSED BABE. 



n^HE Child, the Promised Child, is born 
-'- " Glad tidings " to a world forlorn ! 
Celestial choirs in bright array- 
Descend to hail His natal day. 

Oh, come and see the wondrous thing 
Whereof the Christmas angels sing — 
The Blessed Babe in Mary's arms, 
With all a babe's endearing charms. 

In unimagined splendors far 
Beyond remotest sun or star 
His throne uplifts, yet here He lies 
In Bethlehem's stall, in mean disguise. 

Angelic hosts that press unseen, 
The questioning kine with instinct keen, 
The wondering shepherds, all adore 
The mystery foretold of 3^ore. 

Here is the Virgin undefiled ; 
Here Israel's Holy One, the Child, 
Emmanuel, whom centuries 
Have watched for with prophetic eyes. 

93 



94 CHRISTMAS POEMS AND CAROLS. 

His Name is Wonderful, we read, 
The Counsellor in all our need, 
The Mighty God, the Father great, 
Created things to re-create. 

And more, if more were possible. 
The Prince of Peace His work shall tell 
Who comes to conquer every foe 
That human soul can ever know. 

Yea, more — the Name that Gabriel gave - 
He comes as Jesus, strong to save ; 
The matchless depth, the matchless height 
Of Love revealed to mortal sight. 

weary one, whatever thy name, 

penitent, whate'er thy shame, 

ardent soul, mourner sad, 

youth, O childhood, strong and glad, 

Art thou of high or low degree. 
He comes, this Blessed Babe, to thee ; 
Keceive Him, press Him to thy heart. 
And in this cold world take His part ! 

In this cold world that doth but play, 
Alas, at keeping Christmas Day ! 
Receive Him, press Him to thy heart. 
And He in turn will take thy part ! 



CHRISTMAS POEMS AND CAROLS. 95 

In His unearthly kingdom share ; 
His laws obey ; His signet wear ; 
His Living Presence taste, and see 
How gracious Christ the Lord can be ! 

Henceforth temptation's arrows sore 
May wound but poison thee no more ; 
Nor griefs o'erwhelm, nor faith grow dim, 
Because thy heart enshrineth Him I 



A CHEISTMAS MEDITATIOK 

OO poor, so humble, in sucli solitude, 
^^ Amid the lowing of the patient kine, 
So barely sheltered in the stable rude 
We find Thee, Babe Divine ; 
Jesu ! sweetest Jesu ! 

Here born of Virgin Mother, spotless Maid, 

Who folds Thee to her rapt, adoring breast, 
Thou art content obscurely to be laid 
By the proud world unguessed ; 
Jesu ! sweetest Jesu ! 

Though hosts seraphic gird Thy Throne on high 

No earthly throngs Thy Holy Birth attend ; 
No shouts of joy, though praises fill the sky, 
Earth's bitter silence rend ; 
O Jesu ! sweetest Jesu ! 

As with the darkness of Thy natal night 
Thou veilest all the glory of Thy Eace ; 
Thou who art God of God, and Light of Light, 
The Fount of joy and grace ; 
O Jesu ! sweetest Jesu ! 
96 



CHRISTMAS POEMS AND CAROLS. 97 

This want, this loneliness, this manger bed 

That hint the story of Thy coming woe 
When Thou wilt have nowhere to lay Thy head, 
Thou wiliest even so ; 
O Jesu ! sweetest Jesu ! 

And while our eyes a gathering shadow see — 
The shadow of Thy cross — upon Thee fall, 
Thine own are fixed upon our crown to be 
And nought can Thee appall ; 
Jesu ! sweetest Jesu ! 

Oh that these tongues Thy love could fitly sing ! 
These hearts with praise (as Thine with anguish) 
break ! 
All that we have in worship would we bring 
For Thy dear glory's sake ; 
Jesu ! sweetest Jesu ! 



LENT AND EASTER. 



HYMNS FOR LENT. 

I. 

T^EOM feasts that perish turned aside 

•^ A little space, 

Oh, be the flesh indeed denied ; 

Our souls an-hungered satisfied 

With the sweet feast of grace ! 

Thou who didst fast so long, so sore, 

For our poor sake, — 
All pangs of earth's vast hunger bore, 
Ere Thou Thy precious Blood didst pour, 

Thy blessed Body break — 

Holy Jesu ! hear our cry, 

And give us strength 
For love of Thee to mortify 
The love of self till self shall die. 

And leave us Thine at length ! 

101 



V 



102 LENT AND EASTER. 

II. 

In the lone desert of my own despair, 

Eobed in the sackcloth of unfriended grief, 

With tears no eyes of earthly love can share, 
My stricken soul implores of Heaven relief. 

The scorching sand beneath my naked feet 

And penitential ashes on my head, 
I hear a Voice that calls me, heavenly sweet, 

And the soft coming of a Stranger's tread. 

Low kneeling in abasement I can feel 
A hand of pitj^ gently seeking mine, 

A breath of tender mercy o'er me steal 

From Human lips whose language is Divine. 

" Arise ! " He saith, and lo ! His word doth raise ; 

" Be whole ! " He saith, and lo ! His word doth 
heal; 
Prostrate again I fall, but now in praise : 

" Lord, at Thy feet forever let me kneel." 



HYMNS FOE GOOD FEIDAY. 



/^H ! see Him where He hangs, 
^-^ The world's one sacrifice ; 
No tongue of earth can tell His pangs, 
Who our Eedeemer dies. 



True God and truest ^lan, 

In one forever knit ; 
His anguish thought can never span, 

For it is infinite. 

In all the universe 

The central Figure He, 
As weeping centuries rehearse 

Time's crowning tragedy. 

Again the jflood of scorn, 

The scourge, the crown, the jeer, 
The sacred body nailed and torn, 

The taunts, the sponge, the spear. 

Again — depth, height 
Of Love that hath no name ! — 

The prayer for those who in His sight 
Could no compassion claim. 

103 



104 LENT AND EASTER. 

Again the rended rocks, 
The hearts of human stone. 

The darkness and the earthquake shocks, 
The graves of hope upthrown. 

At His dear feet again, 

His Cross in her embrace, 
The weeping Church, like Magdalen, 

Buries her stricken face. 

Again the streaming side, 

The broken heart, the cry ! 
Again, Jesus Crucified, 

The endless victory. 



n. 



SAD, long-suffering Face, 

How can I look and live ! 
pierced hands outstretched to save ! 

O Voice that cries " Forgive " ! 

"Forgive," though crowned with thorns, 
And mocked with many a jeer; 

" Forgive," though tortured by the nails 
And wounded by the spear. 



LENT AND EASTER. 105 

crimson tide of love 

Outgushing from His side, 
Flow down and wash the guilty earth 

Where He is still denied ! 

In penitence my soul 

Takes up that cry, " Forgive ; " 
Flow down and wash away my sins, 

That I may look and live. 



EASTEK-EYEK VIOLETS. 

T7OR Easter Day, O Lilies white, 
-*- Your shrined splendors keep ! 
But while the sweet, sad, waning light 
Of Easter-Even fades, 
Amid the sacred shades 
Where Sorrow comes to weep, — 
Nor weeps in vain 
Since Hope is born of very Pain, 
(And Pain its pangs in joy forgets) — 
There breathe your balm, sweet Yiolets ! 
Dear twilight-flowers whose lovely hue, 
More tender than the tenderest blue 
Yet not as purple sad, appears 
Most like transformed tears. 

" A little while ! " ye seem to sigh ; 

" And yet a little while ! " ye say ; 

" The stone shall noiseless roll away : 
Unseen across the midnight sky 

Twilight and Daybreak run to meet ! 
Already angels throng the air, 
And twain descending kneel, 

Veiled in awe, at head and feet 
106 



LENT AND EASTER. 107 

Of that new tomb whose broken seal 
The wondering Morning shall reveal, 

And ' He is risen ! ' declare. 

Sweet odors — sweeter than the sweet 
Of violets and lilies blent, 
The sweet of holy slumber spent — 

Stealing from vesture folded fair 

And fragrant with the Lord's own care, 
Wherein His Blessed Body lay 
Till break of day, 
Shall make most sweet the graves of those 

Who, entering into Paradise, 
Do sleep in Him who died and rose — 

In whom they, too, shall rise." 



EASTER DAY. 

T^AWN of dawns, the Easter Day 
-*-^ Far and wide in splendor breaks ; 
Darkest shadows flee away 
Where it breaks ! 

Veiled in its vernal light, 

Christ, the Light of Light, arose ; 
From the grave's unbroken night 
He arose. 

Though beneath the Cross He fell, 
Though upon the Cross He died, 
Led He captive Death and Hell 
When He died. 

Overcome, He overcame ; 

Conquered, more than Conqueror lives ; 
Crowned King with Heaven's acclaim 
Jesus lives ! 

Through the gates of sacrifice 

He, the Victim, Victor went ; 
Lo, His triumph lights the skies 
Since He went ! 
108 



LENT AND EASTER. 109 

Darker than the night our sin, 

Silent as the toinb our life, 
Still His glory enters in — 
Light and life. 

" Rise and follow Me," He saith ; 

" Love as I have loved you. 
Else to life that I through death 
Won for you." 

Love that counts not sacrifice, 

Keeping nothing back from Him, — 
To such love must we arise, 
Following Him, 

As He laid His garments by 

With the bondage of the grave, 
Clothed in Love's own Majesty 
Left the grave, — 

Self, the earth's most earthy dress, 

Must we cast aside like Him, 
And putting on His righteousness 
Rise with Him. 

He hath rolled the stone away 

Through Redemption's might for us, — 
Dawn of dawns, the Easter Day 
Breaks for us ! 



EASTEE CAROLS. 

I. 

CHRIST is risen ! Christ is risen ! 
Conquered Death and all His foes ! 
Crucified and dead and buried, 
Very Man as Man He rose. 
Alleluia ! Alleluia ! 

He for us the Cross endured, 
And the bitter shame despising 
Life, immortal Life secured. 

Very God He stooped to suffer 

Keenest sorrows, sharpest pains ; 
Very Man enthroned in glory 

Now as King of Kings He reigns. 
Alleluia ! Alleluia ! 

Blessed they who follow on ; 
Who by rack or sword or prison 

Share the crown that He hath won. 

Blessed they the saints and martyrs 
Eoremost in the Church's van, 

Virgin souls of maid and matron, 
Babe and youth and hoary man. 
110 



LENT AND EASTER. Ill 

Alleluia ! Alleluia ! 

Blessed all the faithful throng, 
Strong in Him to fight and conquer 

Pressing still His way along. 

Lift the Cross to-day in triumph, 

Lift His wondrous symbol high ; 
Standard that hath led its legions 

On to holy victory ! 
Alleluia ! Alleluia ! 

Once of death and shame the sign, 
Now of glory never equalled 

See the Cross of Jesus shine ! 

Backward, forward, o'er the ages, 

How its rays unearthly stream ! 
From eternity its splendors 

To eternity shall gleam ! 
Alleluia ! Alleluia ! 

Lift the matchless symbol high 
With the Resurrection's glory 

Kindling earth and sea and sky ! 



II. 

With flowers we crown His altar fair. 
For Christ's own morning breaks, 

And earth of Easter-tide aware 
To song and bloom awakes. 



112 LENT AND EASTER. 

CHORUS. 

The day of days is the Easter Day ; 
The Church puts on her white array ; 
For Christ hath filled the very tomb 
With Easter light and Easter bloom ! 

His love o'er loveliest things of earth 

Symbolic beauty throws ; 
The Resurrection shadows forth 

In every flower that blows. 

Chorus. The day of days, etc. 

These flowers their mission sweet fulfil 
And in their sweetness die ; 

But Easter hopes unfolding still 
Climb flower-like up the sky. 

Chorus. The day of days, etc. 

Easter Day that yet shall be, 
Whose splendors shall not fail ; 

Thy deathless bloom the Church shall see 
Beyond the rended veil ! 

CHORUS. 

The day of days is the Easter Day ; 
The Church puts on her white array; 
Eor Christ hath filled the very tomb 
With Easter light and Easter bloom ! 



THE EESUEEECTION. 



"VT'E who, clad in shining raiment, 
-*- Watch within the empty tomb 
Where the dear Lord's sacred Body 

Lay in death through yester's gloom, 
Tell us, guests from realms of glory, 
All the Kesurrection's story ! 



How the tide of life returning 

Flushed the pierced hands and feet ; 

How the Heart so lately broken 
Once again began to beat ; 

How the Head by thorns so wounded 

Victory's aureole surrounded ! 

Tell us, glorious one whose garment 
Gleameth whiter than the snow, 

And whose countenance as lightning 
Laid the watch, like dead men, low ; 

Mightiest one, from Heaven descended. 

Tell us how the tomb was rended ! 

113 



/ 



114 LENT AND EASTER. 

How the seal secure was broken 
Ere the dawning of the day ; 

How the solid earth was shaken 
When the stone was rolled away ; 

While the world unconscious slumbered 

And the hours of death were numbered. 



Tell — but oh, no tongue can utter 

What transcendeth speech and thought ! 

Passeth angels' comprehension 
How the miracle was wrought. 

He was dead ; and lo ! He liveth ; 

Yea, and Life Eternal giveth ! 

Forth He came ! the Human Body 

He for man the fallen wore, 
And the Human Soul united, 

Glorified forevermore ; 
That in wondrous re-creation 
Man might share His exaltation. 

While He fasted in the desert, 
Tempted long and sorely tried. 

Prayed in anguish in the Garden, 
On the Cross in anguish died. 

Watching with her Lord and weeping. 

Solemn fast the Church was keeping. 



LENT AND EASTER. 115 

Feast of Feasts the Fast succeedeth ! 

Once again the strain is poured : 
Alleluia ! Alleluia ! 

Glory to the risen Lord ! 
Song of songs, in endless gladness 
Drowning pain and doubt and sadness. 

Alleluia ! " He is risen ! " 

" Risen indeed ! " the shouts resound. 
Holy greeting answers greeting ; 

Joy at last on earth is found. 
Shore to shore the salutations 
Bind as one redeemed nations. 

Alleluia ! Choirs of angels 

To the choirs of earth respond ; 

Alleluia ! Alleluia ! 

Kolleth seas and skies beyond. 

Heaven and earth at last shall sever, 

But the song shall peal forever ! 



A BATTLE-CRY. 

f~\ HOLY Cross whose sign in air 
^-^ Can put to flight our ghostly foes ; 
holy Name, but breathed in prayer 

And hell is powerless to oppose ; 
However fierce may be the strife, 

Immortal gain our mortal loss ; 
By you we win Eternal Life, 

O holy Name, holy Cross ! 

And what are these our sharpest wounds ? 

Thy wounds, Lord, their balm supply ; 
Our woes Thy woe unmeasured drowns. 

And Thine shall be our victory ! 
priceless faith that dares the strife ! 

deathless hope that spurns the loss ! 
By you we win Eternal Life, 

holy Name, holy Cross ! 
116 



THE LADDER. 



TIj^AST and vigil, alms and prayer, 
-■- These tlie penitential stair 
Leading slowly day by day 
Up the toilsome heavenward way. 

Following these I thought to be 
Always near, dear Lord, to Thee; 
Now — alas ! Thou knowest all ; 
Fruitless strife and frequent fall ! 

Trust of self, or selfish aim, 
Toil unhallowed by Thy Name, 
Envy, pride, — oh, make me know 
What has laid Th}^ servant low ! 

By this same unchanging stair — 
Fast and vigil, alms and prayer — 
Following Thee Thy saints have passed 
To victorious peace at last. 

And this ladder I must scale ; 
Nought instead will me avail ; 
Every round I know I need. 
Though my feet thereon should bleed. 

117 



118 THE LADDER. 

None the less, dear Lord, I know, 
Worse than vain each step I go 
If Thou art not at my side 
To prevent, uphold, and guide. 

Take in Thine my trembling hand ; 
Give me grace and strength to stand ; 
Once again I will assay 
At Thy word the heavenward way. 

Oh for courage not to faint ! 
Oh for silence from complaint ! 
Oh for patience to forbear ; 
Love to conquer ; faith to dare ! 

Stay me, Lord, with holy fear ! 
Fill me. Lord, with holy cheer ! 
Humbly leaning on Thy strength 
May I gain the end at length. 

Nought I can do, or have done ; 
If I win 't is Thou hast won ; 
Putting all my trust in Thee 
Now my ladder's worth I see. 



"THOU AKT A PLACE TO HIDE 
ME m." 

T 7[ 7ITH0UT I hear the beating of the rain, 
^ ^ The howling winds that tell the storm's 
increase ; 
covert sure that he who seeks may gain ! — 
Within abideth peace ! 

Without I hear the sound of feet that halt, 

And grope and stumble in the blinding light ; 
blessed faith that serveth in default 
Of what men call the light ! 

O rest, O wayside inn, where home is not 

For the poor pilgrim to that city fair 
Where strife shall cease and doubtings be forgot ! 
The Lamb, the Light is there ! 

119 



"I WILL NEVER LEAVE THEE, NOE 
FOESAKE THEE." 



TT OW patient art Thou, dearest Lord, 

And how perverse am I ! 
Still day by day some other way 
To win me Thou dost try. 

Now under skies serenely bright 

Thou leadest me along, 
No cloud of ill my hopes to chill 

Or turn to sighs my song. 

And now Thou sufferest cruel storms, 

Misfortune's bitter blast, 
To lay me low that I may know 

Thy shelter o'er me cast. 

To-day companionships most sweet 

To every hour give wings. 
And morn and eve such visions weave 

As shadow Heavenly things. 
120 



"/ WILL NEVER LEAVE THEE.'' 121 

The visions fade ; bereft, cast down, 

As in some desert waste 
Thou leavest me that unto Thee 

My lonely heart may haste. 

The awful consciousness of sin 

Thou makest me to feel, 
The sickness dread of heart and head 

That only Thou canst heal. 

Thou dost oppress me till I fall 

E/epentant at Thy feet, 
That on Thy breast I may find rest 

As undeserved as sweet. 

Again, to meditation's shade 

Thou lurest me aside, 
And truths wouldst teach beyond the reach 

Of any human guide, — 

Soft whispers of the Spirit's lore 

Whose wisdom saints attain ; 
But soon I say, " Some other day ! " 

And turn to what seems plain. 

How faithful art Thou, dearest Lord, 

But oh, how faithless I, 
That o'er and o'er and more and more 

Thy faithfulness I try ! 



122 "/ WILL NEVER LEAVE THEE.'' 

Oh, were Thy sweet commandments writ 

In this inconstant heart, 
It could not be that I from Thee 

Should ever walk apart ! 

That I should leave the only Friend 

Who will not me forsake, 
But still doth plead, and plead, and plead. 

As one whose heart must break ! 

Strive with me still, O Love Supreme ; 

Supremest Patience, strive ! 
Thou hast restored the lost, dear Lord, 

Hast made the dead alive ; 

And nothing is impossible 

To Thy Almightiness 
Whose glory found its boundless bound 

In such divine redress. 

Thou sure must win me in the end 

To Thy eternal claim, 
Who didst create, regenerate, 

And call me by Thy Name. 

The day must come, the blessed day, 

When I updrawn shall be. 
And on the Cross count all things loss, 

And dying live to Thee ! 



QUICKER THOU ME. 



'T^HE thorn is budding into life again, 
-'- The quickened vine puts out its tender shoots, 
The warm, warm sunshine and the cool, cool rain 
Feeding their hidden roots. 



Sweet Spirit, entering where no eye can see, 

E-each this poor heart in all its waiting need, 
And like the thorn and vine my life shall be 
When Thou its roots dost feed. 

123 



"THOUGH HE SLAY ME, YET WILL I 
TEUST IN HIM." 

/^ET by trials overborne, 

^-^ Baffled where I strove to do, 

Not the way I would have gone 

Thou, dear Lord, hast led me through ; 
Yet, believing, I can say, 
It was best — this very way. 

And to-morrow can I doubt 

What Thou orderest will be best ? 

Darkness may be round about ; 
Eaith may meet its sorest test j 

But the past must lend a ray 

Of assurance for that day. 

Not in vain Thy grace has wrought 

Secretly, against my will. 
Bringing me to think this thought 

And to trust Thy mercy still ; 
Trusting, as I surely may, 
Just because of yesterda3\ 
124 



''THOUGH HE SLAY ME:' 125 

!N'ay, forgive me ! poor indeed 

Is the faith whose backward gaze 

Seeks for signs that it may plead 
In belialf of coming days, 

Strengthening timid hope to say, 

*' He was gracious yesterday." 

Ah, how little do we know 

Of Thy mercy's magnitude ! 
How our faith should burn and glow 

With the thought that Thou art good ! 
And in adoration say, 
" I will trust Him, though He slay." 

Once Thou didst bestow a sign 

That forever should suffice ; 
Showing forth the Love Divine 

In that one supreme device. 
Though all else should pass away, 
Faith shall find that sign its stay. 

Come, then, darkness, suffering, loss; 

Come temptation, sorrow, death ; 
By that sign, the holy Cross, 

Faith forever conquereth ; 
And foretasting Life can say, 
" I will trust Him, though He slay." 



"HIM THAT COMETH TO ME I WILL 
IN NO WISE CAST OUT." 

T T ERE, weary heart, at last thy wanderings 
•^ -^ cease ; 

Thy long, sad quest ; 
Nowhere beside is hope ; nowhere is peace ; 

Nowhere is rest. 

O slow to come to Him who called and called 

With proffers sweet ! 
While pride withheld thee and thy sin appalled 

He did entreat. 

What is thy shame, however great thy shame, 

When thou dost think 
That knowing all He loved thee all the same ; 

How couldst thou shrink! 

How couldst thou fear ! as if He could reject 

Who came to save ! 
To give thee spite of guilt and long neglect 

What thou didst crave — 
126 



''UIM TEAT COMETH TO 31 Ey ±27 

The sense of pardon filling all the soul 

Washed clean at last; 
The grace that follows with its sweet control ; 

The shame o'erpast ! 

To win thee sorrowing to His glad embrace 

How hath He striven ! 
Oh, hear His Voice — couldst thou but see His 
Face ! — 

Thou art forgiven ! 



THE LOWEST PLACE. 

"VT OT that I may be chiefest, Lord, 

^ But that I may obey 
More closely Thy most sweet commands. 

Teach me to serve, I pray. 

Not that I may be honored more 

Who am indeed the least, 
I would the lowest place like one 

Grace-bidden to the feast ; 

But that Thy smile, my blessed Lord, 
Might reach that lowest place, 

And show me, though the last and least, 
The fulness of that grace. 
128 



"CONFESS YOUR FAULTS ONE TO 
ANOTHER." 

TT OW often, dearest Lord, 
■'- -*■ Within the closet's hush, 
Do we confess our sins to Thee 
With tear or blush ! 

But when in word or deed 
Some brother we offend^ 
Though one sweet utterance would keep 
Our friend our friend, 

How, trampling on Thy grace, 

Pride will repentance foil. 
And from confession due to him 
Our hearts recoil ! 

'^ I cannot stoop to that," 

Self-love in secret cries ; 
The fear of man, not fear of sin. 
Before her eyes. 

129 



130 ''CONFESS YOUR FAULTS 

Oh, if our fear of man 

Were lost in love of Thee ; 
If Thy dear likeness we possessed 
In least degree ; 

The coldness we might meet, 

The poor vague sense of loss, 
The small contempt that often seems 
The sorest cross, 

The world's derision cast 
On acts of lowliness, — 
How would we brave them for Thy sake, 
To make redress ! 

The hour is near when earth 

No longer will appall ; 
But only words and deeds that hour 
Beyond recall. 

I would not leave undone 

The work Thou gavest me, 
Nor my transgressions unconfessed. 
Dear Lord, to Thee. 

But oh, that other test 

Of those who name Thy Name ; 
The bearing of that outward cross 
That Thou dost claim ! 



ONE TO another:' 131 

Sweet Jesus, give me grace, 

And make me swift to say, 
^'I own my fault, good neighbor mine; 
Forgive, I pray." 

And should my neighbor turn 

Away from me his face. 
Sufficient for my humbled soul 
Would be Thy grace. 



THE COMMON OFFERING. 

T T is not the deed we do, 
''■ Though the deed be never so fair, 
But the love that the dear Lord looketh for, 
Hidden with holy care 
In the heart of the deed so fair. 

The love is the priceless thing. 

The treasure our treasure must hold, 

Or ever the Lord will take the gift, 
Or tell the worth of the gold 
(By the love that cannot be told). 

Behold us, the rich and the poor. 

Dear Lord, in Thy service drawn near ; 

One consecrateth a precious coin, 
One droppeth only a tear : 
Look, Master ; the love is here ! 
132 



A HYMN OF CONTEITION. 

OINCE for Thy lips were mingled, O my Lord, 
^^ The vinegar and gall, 

Should I not say, Earth's sweet things be abhorred, 
And sweet Earth's bitter call ? 

Since Thou for me the cup of death didst drain, — 

Yea, my Lord, for me, — 
My cup of ills should I not take, as fain 

To share one draught with Thee ? 

O Victor-Victim, though the flesh afraid 

Sink trembling at Th}^ feet, 
Cast over it Thy pity's awful shade, 

And hear me Thee entreat ! 

Make Thou these tears of penitence and shame 

For sin and frailties all. 
More sharp than vinegar, more hot than flame, 

And bitterer than gall. 

Then, Lord, in every draught Thou wilt distil 

Thine own exceeding peace 
To sweeten all the cup earth's sorrows fill 

Till earth and sorrow cease. 

133 



THE NIGHT-WATCH. 

Q MEDITATION sweet, that makes 
^^ The midnight watch an hour of rest, 
And brings, when fickle sleep forsakes, 
A holier calm to hearts opprest. 

Soft speaking as to one so near 

That, kneeling, we might kiss His feet, 
The Name above all names most dear 

Our erst complaining lips repeat. 

Our griefs that Christ alone can guess. 
Our doubts that Christ alone can know, 

Elow out to meet His tenderness, — 
In tearful confidences flow. 

Eor He who bore all sorrow, weighed, 
Nailed to His own, each lesser cross ; 

He knows the burden on us laid, 
The secret pain, the hidden loss. 

Touched with our woes, He lifteth up 
The humblest follower in His train ; 

He maketh sweet the bitter cup, 
And death itself is blessed gain. 
134 



THE NIGHT-WATCH. 135 

Thus in the lonely night we learn 
To trust Him most as joys decrease, 

And when our need is sorest turn 
To hear His silence whisper, Peace ! 



O SPOTLESS LAMB! 

npHOUGH all I have is Thine 
"*- And Thine is all I am, 
How poor, how vile a gift is mine 

To Thee, Spotless Lamb ! 

» 

For all I have is dross, 

And guilt is all I am. 
And all I gain I count as loss, 

For Thee, Spotless Lamb ! 

What is my life but death — 

So dead in heart I am ! 
Oh for one living, living breath 

Like Thine, Spotless Lamb ! 

Descend, Thou Holy Dove, 

Brood o'er me as I am, 
That I may draw that breath of love — 

Thy love, Spotless Lamb ! 

For me Thy blood was shed, 
All worthless though I am ; 

In that pure stream from foot to head 
I '11 wash, Spotless Lamb ! 
136 



SPOTLESS LAMB! 137 

Made clean in that dear tide 

Fit ev'n for Thee I am ; 
My heart of hearts thus purified 

Accept, Spotless Lamb ! 

And when beyond earth's sight 

With Thy redeemed I am, 
In realms whose one supernal light 

Thou art, Spotless Lamb, — 

When with Thy joy and peace 

Pure-clad and crowned I am, 
How shall I sing, nor ever cease. 

Thy love, Spotless Lamb ! 



A PSALM OFWEAEINESS. 

i^VEEBOENE by journeyings far 
^^ Where no resting-places are, 
Lured by visions of repose 
That in fading mock my woes, 
Saviour ! may Thy presence be 

Unto me 
As the shadow cool and sweet 
Of a rock in desert heat. 

Shelter of the shelterless, 
Cover Thou my weariness ; 
With Thy peace, a tent most fair, 
Screen me from this earthly glare, 
And Thy consolations shed 

On my head, 
Sweeter than the balm of sleep 
When the eyes forget to weep. 
138 



WHEN I AWAKE. 

Ps. xvii. 15. 

WHEIsT I awake shall I Thine image bear, 
Thou Adored ? 
The image lost, in some pure Otherwhere 

Oh, shall it he restored ? 
Already stealeth o'er my trembling soul 

Some semblance sweet, — 
The wavering outline of the perfect whole 
Thy Touch shall yet complete ? 

When I awake shall I indeed cast by 

All earthly taint. 
And walk with Thee in white, Thy white, on high, 

As seraph walks and saint ? 
Through endless, blessed ages shall I know 

Thy Will alone ; 
Its all-pervading, perfect motions grow 

More than mine own mine own ? 

The glories that no vision can forestall 

With crystal gleam ; 
The peace, the rapture, and the holy thrall 

Of Love that reigns supreme ; 

139 



140 WHEN I AWAKE. 

The death of all that meaneth self and time ; 

The gain of Thee, 
My Lord, my God ! the victory sublime 

When only Thou shalt be, — 

Thou, all in all, — all in Thy fulness lost, 

And all, all found 
Dear beyond price, no aspiration crossed ; 

Thou, only Thou our bound ; — 
Shall I behold, receive, possess, attain 

All this and more 
To tell whereof all tongues M^ould strive in vain, 

In vain all language pour ? 

Shall the Great Vision that transcends our dreams 

At last unfold ? 
Thy Face, Thy Glory whence all glory streams 

Shall I indeed behold 
When I awake ? Oh can it ever be, 

All joys beside, 
That I shall gaze and gaze, my God, on Thee ? 

I shall be satisfied. 



A MOENIKG HYMK 

/~\ SWEET untrouHed morning, bring 
^-^ Untroubled peace upon thy wing, 
And banish with the banished night 
The fears that cloud thy clearest light. 

Not more serene, if not more drear, 

Will be the morrow for our fear ; 

While Doubt, sad spendthrift ! throws away 

The golden coin of hope to-day. 

Oh for the faith that goes to meet 
The future with unshrinking feet, 
Kemembering that the sorest rod 
Blooms with the patient love of God ! 

Dear Lord, whose mercy veileth all 
That may our coming days befall, 
Still hide from us the things to be, 
But rest our troubled hearts in Thee ! 

141 



EVENING- HYMN OF PEAISE. 



O WEET Jesu ! through the hours of light, 
^-^ Eor every deadly sin restrained, 

Eor dangers passed, for comfort gained, 
Praise, praise to Thy all-tender might. 

Amen. 



Sweet Jesu ! through the hours of night 
Thy watch of grace and mercy keep ; 
Thou slumberest not albeit we sleep ; 

Praise, praise to Thy all-tender might. 

Amen. 

Sweet Jesu ! though our sins affright 

And fill with shame our sorrowing breast, 
In Thee we pardon find and rest, 

Praise, praise to Thy all-tender might. 

Amen. 

Sweet Jesu ! when the world is bright, 
And when 't is dark, alike be near, 
Our stay of peace, our staff of cheer ; 
Praise, praise to Thy all-tender might. 

Amen. 
142 



EVENING HYMN OF PRAISE. 143 

Sweet Jesu ! Thine by day and night, 
In joy or grief, in life or death, 
Pill Thou with praise our every breath, 

Praise, praise to Thy all-tender might. 

Amen. 



A NIGHT OF FAITH. 



T^ARK, utter dark; no faintest ray 

-*-^ To light the way 

Of sunset-gleam or coming day ! 

The vision aches with lack of sight, 

For depth and height 
Are one vast blank of baffling night. 

Oh that the soul might be at rest ; 

Might yield her quest, 
With the sole thought of God possessed ! 

That she might close her wearied eyes 

And blindfold-wise 
Walk on as under shining skies ; 

As seeing Him who is unseen ; 

And wait serene 
Though twofold night should intervene ! 

O touch of God ! miracle 

That none may tell ! 
Her eyes are closed and all is well. 
144 



A NIGHT OF FAITH. 145 

Though twofold night doth round her press 

She knows no less 
He will not leave her comfortless. 

The desolate Cry on Calvary^s height, 

Its mid-day night, 
Her pledges are of coming light. 



THE DIVINE LOVE. 

r\ PATIENT God, whom men forsake, 
^^ All-kind, all-gracious as Thou art, 
How soon our faithlessness would break 
A human heart ! 

How vast must be the Love so strong, 

Its yearning, oh, how fathomless, 
That sin prolonged should yet prolong 
Thy tenderness ! 

Though we may slight that Love with doubt, 

Thy paths of sweet commandment spurn, 
Thou wilt in no wise cast him out 
Who would return ! 

The uttermost Thy Love doth reach ; 

And oh the pathos of its cry 
All humbled to our human speech, — 
" Wliy will ye die ? " 

Were not Thy wide compassion more 

Than even all the powers of sin 
These feet would never find Thy Door, 
And enter in. 
146 



THE DIVINE LOVE. I47 

We see Thee as the suffering Christ 

With Cross and Passion bowed down ; 
Earth's meanest things for Thee sufficed, 
And Sorrow's crown, 

If only famished souls might flee 

Life's husks for Love's Eternal Feast, 
And all might dwell in bliss with Thee — 
The very least ! 

" Lord, we repent ! Lord, we believe ! " 

And Thou acceptest even this ? 
And faithless wanderers wilt receive 
With heavenly kiss ? 

Love ! we sink from Thine embrace 

Thy feet to kiss forevermore ! 
The humblest is the fittest place 
When souls adore ! 



APPEEHENSION. 

"FAEAE- Lord, this day is so unlike 
^^ The day I feared that it would be ! 
I wonder much, I said last night, 
What it will bring to me. 

What does it mean, — this haunting dread ? 

What added sorrows wait me more, 
And o'er my trembling spirit spread 

Their shadows thus before ? 

I seemed to stand upon a brink, 
Yet could not see the gulf below ; 

It dizzied me to try to think, 
As with some coming blow. 

Dear hands I saw on either side 

Keach out as for a final kiss ; 
And clasping each o'er each I cried, 

Not this one, Lord ; not this ! 

I cannot bear one parting more ; 

My heart is at the point to break ! 
As if Thou didst not know before. 

Dear Lord, to Thee I spake. 
148 



APPREHENSION. 149 

And then I slept, the sleep of fear, 
And waked in sad bewilderment ; 

The day, the dreaded day, was here ; 
What trial would be sent ? 

Up to the zenith rose the sun, 

And now I watch its bright decline ; 

The hours have passed me one by one ; 
No added griefs are mine ! 

Still must I feel the piercing sword 
Of what hath been or yet may be ; 

But from that nameless terror. Lord, 
At least I am set free. 

And slowly, slowly, yet how sure, 
Eeturns the restful consciousness 

That in Thy care I am secure, 
And chastening. Thou dost bless. 

Not more than I can bear I know 
Thou, dearest Lord, on me wilt lay. 

And I can learn of Thee to go 
Unf earing on my way. 



GOD'S SILENCE. 

r^ OD'S Silence ! Holiest speech that is 
^-^ Is but a dew-fall out of this ; 
And human Love's own tongues of bliss 
But broken language caught from His. 

Why should we question, though our cry — 
" Lord, hear me — answer, or I die ! " — 
Seems echoed from an empty sky ? 
He hears — He answers, utterly. 

" Lord, answer ! " And with shuddering breath, 
As those already doomed to death, 
We wait for Him who rescueth 
The very bird that perisheth. 

sword of doubt, two-edged with pain. 
That cuts the quivering heart in twain ! 
As if His Love could ever wane ! 
As if our cry could be in vain ! 

His Silence ! once, indeed, it brake 
With Lovers great stress, when He did take 
A mortal guise for Love's sweet sake, 
And spake as never mortal spake. 
150 



GOD'S SILENCE. 151 

Siuce He his own Divine did blend 
With Human in that Saviour-Friend, 
That we enough might comprehend 
His Love to trust Him to the end ; 

And guided by His perfect care, 
Find all dark places everywhere 
Wind upward, a celestial stair 
To Love's own heights divinely fair ; 

He must forever bless ; and aye, 
At the dear break of Heaven's sweet day, 
Wipe all earth's bitter tears away, 
And give us more than heart can pray ! 

Oh, should He speak, and could we guess 
That Tongue of Infinite Tenderness, 
His Silence still would more express 
His Love's unspeakable excess ! 



^aT IS I." 

" TT is so hard!" I said, 

-'- And sat within and told my troubles o'er; 

A hand fell softly on my bowed head, 
Yet no one passed my door. 

" A fancy ! " then I said ; 
"But oh ! to feel that touch forevermore! 

Methinks, indeed, I could be comforted ! " 
And sorrowed as before. 

" No other heart can know ! " 
Brake out my grief again with bitter cry ; 

" And God is far — so far my faith lets go 
Her hold on Heaven to die ! " 

Then some one stooped low. 
His heart full-throbbing, as with tears, close by : 

" Lord ! is it Thou so moved by my woe ? " 
He answered, *^ It is I." 
152 



AFTEE THE STOEM. 



A LL night in the pauses of sleep I heard 
"^ ^ The moan of the snow-wind and the sea 
Like the wail of Thy sorrowing children, God, 
Who cry unto Thee. 

But in silence and heauty the morning broke, 

O'erfl owing creation the glad light streamed, 
And earth stood shining and white as the souls 
Of the blessed redeemed. 

glorious marvel in darkness wrought ! 

With smiles of promise the blue sky bent 
As if to whisper to all who mourn 
Love's hidden intent. 

153 



o 



THE MONK OF LA TEAPPE. 
H what abounding grace ! 



Of one we read 
Whose piteous wound in lieu of speech did bleed 
(As if even Nature's self for him would plead); 
Who mid his silent brethren silent went 
Two weary years on prayer and labor bent, 
Unmindful of his misery so he still 
Shaped every deed and thought to God's dear will; 
Nor heeded he his bed of knotted straw 
Whose vigils sore the Master only saw ; 
Nor looked forward to the ashen heap 
Whereon the dying brethren fell on sleep 
(Acquainting them or ere they joined the dead 
With the poor kindred dust whereto they sped) ; 
Nor fastings long, nor penance he relaxed ; 
Nor less the body for the body taxed ; 
Nor changed a whit the posture, or the face 
That shone with calm while grew his woe apace. 
Vain, vain the body's strife to turn aside 
The purpose of the spirit sanctified ! 
In snatch of wretched sleep his chastened will 
154 



THE MONK OF LA TRAPPE. 155 

Restrained the groan, overcame the anguish, still ; 
And if perchance tliat sleep his lips unsealed. 
Their words of peace his sharpest pangs concealed. 

But when the oozing blood for him complained, 
And half-betrayed his woe the raiment stained, 
The quick-eyed abbot bade the surgeon speed 
Whose skilful hand might serve his piteous need. 
Compassionate the sufferer they bound, 
While wept the mute attendants standing round 
As the bared back disclosed the blackening wound. 
"Thus bind him fast!" the surgeon whispered low; 
"Not else might he endure the mortal woe !" 
While they through tears beheld the fearful sight 
The poor monk raised a face of saintly light ; 
" Not of myself," he said, " but God is here 
To hold me that I neither shrink nor fear." 
Then even as Death's own shadow in the cell 
On him, on all, the wonted silence fell ; 
Only a dripping on the floor of brick 
As the sharp knife swift pierced to the quick : 
No shudder felt, no moan repressed, betrayed 
The spirit fainting or the flesh afraid. 
" holy father, he must speak or die ! 
Command these lips to utter forth their cry ! " 
Implored the surgeon, with a whitening cheek. 
" Speak, my brother, speak ! I bid thee speak ! " 
With streaming eyes the pitying abbot said. 
As it were his own quivering flesh that bled ! 



156 THE MONK OF LA TRAPPE, 

The aslien lips almost a smile entranced, 
And from the eye unearthl}^ rapture glanced, 
As his uj)lifted face like Stephen's glowed, 
And from his tongue a heavenly utterance flowed : 

"My Lord! my Lord! that Thou shouldst raise 

me up, 
And suffer me to taste Thy measureless cup 
Of agony, and in some poor degree 
Learn how all-measureless Thy Love must be ! 
wondrous riches by the poorest gained ! 
O heights no rapture ever yet attained ! 
depths beyond all human thought to reach ! 
Love passing knowledge as it passeth speech ! 
That I should see the glory of Thy Face 
While yet vile clay in this despised place ! 
all-transcending Love ! matchless grace ! 
Thrice-blest this tongue that may forego its spell 
Not of these pangs but of that Love to tell ! " 

Even as he spake back in their arms he fell, 
And Death's own radiance filled the narrow cell ! 



MY PETITION. 

/^FT when I pray that God will bless 
^-^ My friends most dear, 
Will make their trials something less, 
Or crown their lives with happiness, 
From year to year ; 

Soon as my fond petitions rise, 

The thought will come 
That the dear Lord alone is wise, 
And He ordaineth sacrifice 

As life's true sum. 

Whichever way our path may lead 

There looms the Cross, 
No less to beckon than to plead ; 
The while it covers human need. 

Demanding loss. 

'^ If thou wilt enter life, resign 

Thy life," it saith ; 
" A soldier of the King Divine, 
The martyr's spirit should be thine. 

If not his death. 

157 



158 MY PETITION. 

" What thou possessest, count it loss ; 

It will not last ; 
The wealth of this world yield as dross ; 
Hold blessings humbly ; but the cross — 

The cross hold fast ! " 

!N^ot less of trial then, not more 

Of happiness 
I crave, as I have craved before, 
For those I pray for o'er and o'er, 

And fain would bless. 

But now my fond petitions rise : 

From things of time. 
Lord Jesus, turn away their eyes, 
That they may see in sacrifice 

A joy sublime. 

Not sacrifice of strength or ease 

Or wealth alone ; 
But what so far exceedeth these — 
The self so eager self to please, 

And seek its own. 

For Thy sweet sake in them fulfil 

This sacrifice, 
And make them strong to serve Thee still, 
Yea, Lord, through good report and ill, 

Whate'er the price. 



MY PETITION. 159 

Give what Thou wilt, or take away ; 

Be this their crown, 
Their earthly life from daj^ to day 
In will, if not in deed, to lay 

Victorious down. 



THE WAY OF THOENS. 

npHEE-E is but one true way ; 
Ko other choice be mine ; 
Lord, every path must lead astray 
Save only Thine. 

A straight and narrow road 
Hedged in with thorns indeed, 

And every thorn most like a goad 
To bid me heed. 

They wound my human pride, 
They rend my selfishness. 

And when I seek to turn aside. 
How sharp they press ! 

On every hand I hear 

Alluring tongues of time. 

And oft they win my outward ear 
Like silver chime. 

They call : " That way forsake ; 

A needless strife is thine ; 
A thousand paths our feet may take 

And find divine." 
160 



THE WAY OF THORNS. 161 

But have ye seen the end ? 

I trembh'ng answer back : 
He knoweth all, my Lord and Friend, 

Who points this track. 

Here His Apostles trod ; 

Here martyrs won their crown ; 
Here every saint for love of God 

The world laid down. 

His own most blessed feet 

This narrow pathway wore, 
And pangs no anguish can repeat 

For us He bore. 

All sorrow, shame, and scorn, 

Death, very death He knew ; 
From every thorn a sharper thorn 

His pity drew. 

A way of strife indeed. 

But every step I go 
That pity to repentance leads 

And keeps me low. 

Because the way is His, 

And victory is sure. 
And faith is more than present bliss, 

I can endure. 



THE BLESSED TASK. 

T SAID : Sweet Master, hear me pray ; 
-*" Eor love of Thee the boon I ask ; 
Give me to do for Thee each day 

Some simple, lowly, blessed task. 
And listening long wdth hope elate 
I only heard Him whisper. Wait. 

The days went by but nothing brought 
Beyond the wonted round of care. 

And I was vexed with anxious thought. 
And found the waiting hard to bear ; 

But when I sighed, In vain I pray, 

I heard Him gently answer, Nay ! 

So praying still and waiting on, 

And pondering what that waiting meant. 
This knowledge sweet at last I won — 

And oh the depth of my content ! — 
My blessed task for every day 
Is humbly, gladly to obey. 
162 



THE BLESSED TASK. 163 

And thougli I daily, hourly fail 

To bring my task to Him complete, 

And must with constant tears bewail 
My failures at my Master's feet, 

No other service would I ask 

Than this my blessed, blessed task. 



DISCOUEAGEMENT. 

T ORD, when I strive to serve Thee most, 
■*~^ Yet toil in vain ; 
When I can see but labor lost, 
Instead of gain ; 

When plans fall out another way 

From what seems best, 
And failure comes though I obey 

Thy clear behest ; 

When hopes whereon I dare to lean 

Thou dost deny ; 
When Thou forbiddest me to glean 

The fields hard by ; 

When fairest prospects opening wide 

Before mine eyes. 
Thou wallest in on every side. 

And mountains rise 

That faith seems powerless to remove, — 

Then, dearest Lord, 
Draw near to me, draw near and prove 

Thy written Word ! 
164 



DISCO URA GEMENT. 1 ^^ 

That Thou in all things dost ordain 

Thy children's good ; 
That joy shall be the fruit of pain 

When understood, 

I know, and yet (0 slow of heart !) 

But half believe ; 
And when I fail in secret smart, 

And fret, and grieve. 

Fill me with faith's divine content 

In Thee, Lord, 
And make me willing to be spent 

Without reward ! 

Yea, Lord, without one smallest gain. 

Though sought alone 
For others' good, by toil and pain, 

Not for mine own. 

And when my failures cast me down, 

Make me to rest, 
Not in the thought of any crown, 

But on Thy breast. 

The weary sea-bird goes to sleep 

On tossing waves. 
Untroubled by the storm, the deep, 

In trust that saves. 



IQQ DIS CO URAGEMENT. 

It is the hollow of Thy hand 
That shapes its nest ; 

So, though I may not understand, 
Make me to rest. 



MY FIELD. 

T WILL not wrong thee, To-day, 
-*■ With idle longing for To-morrow ; 
But patient plough my field and sow 
The seed of faith in every furrow. 

Enough for me the loving light 

That melts the cloud's repellent edges ; 

The still unfolding, bud by bud. 

Of God's most sweet and holy pledges. 

I breathe His breath ; my life is His ; 

The hand He nerves knows no defrauding; 
The Lord will make this joyless waste 

Wave with the wheat of His rewarding. 

Of His rewarding ! Yes ; and yet 
Not mine a single blade or kernel ; 

The seed is His ; the quickening His ; 
The care unchanging and eternal. 

His, too, the harvest song shall be 

When He who blessed the barren furrow 

Shall thrust His shining sickle in 
And reap my little field To-morrow. 

167 



HIS PEACE. 



T^ 7HEN day and its cares are over 

'^ ' I draw my chamber blind, 
And under the night's sweet cover 
All manner of comfort find. 



Like doves to their windows flying 
My thoughts from their daily quest 

At the call of my heart replying 
Keturn to their nightly rest. 

And folding them all together 
I hide them away from sight, 

Their wanderings hither and thither 
Eorgot in the quiet of night. 

One, only one thought remaineth ; 

It is born not of nature but grace, 
And upward the flight it taketh 

Beyond the limits of space : 

He only who changes never. 

Can choose for my soul the best ; 

Can quicken and crown the endeavor, - 
He only can give me rest. 
168 



HIS PEACE. 169 

How mighty He is, I remember ; 

How measureless is His Love ; 
And how in the heart's hushed chamber 

His Peace may abide as a dove. 



OMNISCIENCE. 

npHE door is shut and yet Thou enterest in, 
-■■ Without or lifting latch or loosening bar ! 
Friends who have known me best and longest win 

No entrance here ; but only stand afar 
Oblivious of the hiding places deep 
Where I myself unconsciously do keep. 

Thou enterest in, Lord, Omnipotent, 
Omniscient, Omnipresent, yet unseen ; 

Thy patient eyes upon me ever bent ; 
No faintest mist hung piteously between 

To veil my thoughts or my infirmities 

From those all-searching and long-suffering eyes. 

As I am seen could I but gaze on Thee 

Awful in majesty and royal might, 
Yet as a lamb in love's simplicity. 

And as a spotless lamb of matchless white. 
So kingly yet so lowly ! — could I see. 
What, my Saviour, would become of me ! 
170 



OMNISCIENCE. 171 

This, this I know ; no word of self-excuse 

For any fault of mine my tongue could frame ; 

Nay, more ; for very shame I should refuse 

The shield, if there could be a shield from blame ; 

And all the love that human breast can know 

Would at Thy feet lay me forever low ! 



"NO ONE TAKETH YOUE PEACE 
AWAY." 



'T^HE long week's close : how sweet and clear 
•^ The curfew greets the tired world's ear ! 
" In sleep by night and in rest by day, 
Peace be yours ! " it seems to say. 

Then folds the world its countless hands ; 
Unheeded slide the drowsy sands, 
This last sweet night of the rounded seven 
Ealling noiselessly out of heaven. 



In depths of more celestial blue 
The sacred morn unfolds anew, 
As if to yield to the weary breast 
Balm of beauty as well as rest. 

How hushed ! the silence-quickened ear 
Turned heavenward can almost hear 
The white cloud trail, and the arrow of light 
Earthward speeding in golden flight. 
172 



""NO ONE TAKETH YOUR PEACE AWAY:' 173 

And over all. compassionate, 
A tender Presence seems to wait, 
Beyond tlie cloud, bej^ond the light, 
Beckoning upward from height to height. 

" In sleep by night and in rest by day, 
May peace be yours," did the curfew say ? 
" I, only, can give jou peace ! " replies 
A Voice that thrilleth the boundless skies. 

Lord Jesus, turn us from the noise 
Of endless strivings and empty joys, 
To find forever Thy one true peace, 
Best from sorrow, from sin release ! 

Then will each morn of the week-day year 
The Lord's Day morning mirror clear ; 
And every night will the curfew say, 
" No one taketh your peace away." 



IN THE GARDEN. 

T N this still garden in the cool of day 

I often meditate : — 
Should He who walked in Eden come this way 

And consecrate 
This place of bloom with Presence passing fair 
And robes that make more sweet this summer air ! 

Anon a Voice far off yet near I catch, 

And question, — Comes He now ? 

The virgin lilies that for Him keep watch 
Do lowly bow, 

And the meek grasses lowlier yet to greet 

His soft approach and reverent kiss His feet. 

But as for me who cannot see Him pass 
Yet fain would feel Him near, 
I bow me lowlier even than the grass, 

In love and fear ; 
Far lowlier than the lilies on their stem, 
And through them press to touch His garment's 
hem ! 

174 



IN THE GARDEN. 175 

More softly blows the summer wind to lift 

His mantle's sacred fold ; 
Through all the place sweet sighs and odors drift 

Like bliss half-told ; 
And in the fading west a single star 
Trembles with rapture watching Him afar ! 

And oh, that I should see that star remote 

Yet His near Glory miss 
Wherein the sun itself and stars do float 

As motes, I wis ! 
But since no man that Glory could abide, 
How should I dare lament the sight denied ! 

Dark, hushed and dark, the garden round me 
grows. 

The folded flowers more sweet ; 
I hearken long to hear Him where He goes 

With noiseless feet, 
Till the familiar place seems sad and strange. 
And Eden to Gethsemane doth change. 

Through heavy silence falls the heavy dew 
Like sweat of sorrow wrung, 

As if the bitter cup were filled anew 
O'er which He hung, 

Whose Love all love transcending overcame, 

For us endured the Cross, despised the shame ! 



176 IN THE GARDEN. 

Albeit against that Presence passing by 
These mortal eyes are sealed, 

I see this Other, like Him, standing nigh^ 
To faith revealed : 

At His dear feet on consecrated sod 

I cry like one of old : " My Lord — my God ! " 



THE TWO CITIES. 

/^N the dusky shores of evening stretched in 
^-^ shining peace it lies, 

City built of clouds and sunshine, wonder of 
the western skies ! 

While I watch and long for pinions thitherward 

to take my flight, 
Slowly the aerial City fades and vanishes from 

sight. 

Kuby dome and silver temple, circling wall of 

amethyst, 
Fall in silence leaving only purple ruin hung with 

mist. 

Darkness gathers eastward, westward ; stronger 

waxeth my desire 
Reaching through celestial spaces glittering as 

with rain of fire, 

To the City set in jasper having twelve founda- 
tions fair, 

Flashing from their jewelled splendor every color 
soft and rare. 

177 



178 THE TWO CITIES. 

Twelve in number are its gateways, numbered 

by the Seer of old ; 
Every gate a pearl most lustrous, and its streets 

are paved with gold. 

In the midst in dazzling whiteness lightens the 

Eternal Throne ; 
From it flows the Living water; round it gleams 

an emerald zone. 

Luscious fruits and balmy odors, healing leaves 

and cooling shade, 
Either side the Life-tree sheddeth by sweet storms 

of music swayed. 

O thou grand untempled City seen by John in 

visions bright, 
Glory-flooded, needing neither sun by day nor 

moon by night ; 

Filled forever and forever by the shining light of 

Him 
Who redeemed the world and sitteth throned 

between the Seraphim ! 

Through thy lovely gates the nations of the saved 

in triumph stream. 
Chanting praise above all praises, love of love 

their holy theme. 



THE TWO CITIES. 179 

They no more shall thirst or hunger, they no 

more with heat shall faint ; 
Christ for tears will give them gladness, blissful 

rest for sore complaint. 

Blessed they who do His bidding, cries the Angel 

day and night ; 
They shall find abundant entrance j they shall 

walk with Him in white. 



THE WANING YEAE. 

npHE year is waning, waning ; 
■"■ I feel its close draw near ; 
A murmur of complaining 

In all earth's sounds I hear, 
That saith, The year is waning; 

And sighs, waning year ! 

All garnered is its glory, 
Its fulness and its might ; 

The ghostly fields lie hoary 
Seen in the early light ; 

The threads of summer's story 
Are lost to touch and sight. 

But memories grow dearer 
When falls the latest leaf ; 

And many things grow clearer 
To eyes made dim by grief ; 

And hidden things seem nearer 
Because the days are brief. 
180 



THE WANING YEAR. 181 

The wealth we must surrender 
Of leafage, bloom, and light, 

Keveals the larger splendor 
And grandeur of the night 5 

And worship that we render 
Seems more in God's own sight. 

The heavens laid bare above us 

In majesty untold, 
Show forth how He doth love us, 

And would our lives infold ; 
How the dear Lord would have us 

Look up to Him more bold ; 



With simple, childlike boldness, 
That fears without a fear ; 

Nor stands far off in coldness. 
But draws unquestioning near 

A glad, forgetful boldness, 

That saith. Thy child is here I 

Oh, as the years go by us, 
As year by year they wane, 

And many trials try us, 
And everything is vain, 

If God doth not deny us 

How can our hearts complain ! 



182 THE WANING YEAR. 

The fields will fade around us, 

Our beauty go away ; 
The darkness will surround us, 

But, oh ! we need not stray ; 
And nothing shall confound us 

Who look to Him alway. 

The year is waning, waning ; 

I feel its close draw near ; 
And through the earth's complaining 

One blessed Voice I hear. 
happy, peaceful waning ! 

How sweet the waning year ! 



VALE. 



r^ OOD-NIGHT, Earth ! the nights are grow- 
^-^ ing long ; 

The days are brief ; 
Life hath one solemn burden for its song : 

" As fades the leaf.'' 



Good-night, poor World ! if thou art full of sin 

Why so am I ! 
In this proud heart to judge would I begin, 

Nor self pass by. 

Good-night, my foe ! not all the wrong was thine ; 

My share I own ; 
Forgive ! — we, human, know one word Divine ; 

The sun goes down. 

Good-night, good friend ! though poor my gifts to 
thee 

I will not fret ; 
The richer thou whose bounty is so free, 
And sweet my debt. 

183 



184 VALE. 

No longer to revenge nor to repay 

I strive or seek ; 
Empty I came, must empty go away, — 

Empty and weak. 

As one who wakes no more to smile or weep 

Another day, 
So would I lay me humbly down to sleep 

And humbly say : 

Dear Lord, who hadst not where to lay Thy head, 

As poor were I 
Did not Thy mercy make for me a bed 

Whereon to die. 



Pakt II. 

^0 mg pieces;, 
JEANIE, MARY, AND EDITH. 



THE PLIGHT OF THE BIRDS. 



WISE little birds, how do ye know 
The way to go, 



o 

Southward and northward, to and fro ? 



Ear np in the ether piped they : 

" We but obey 
One who calleth us far away. 

" He calleth and calleth year by year, 

Now there, now here ; 
Ever He maketh the way appear." 

Dear little birds ! He calleth me 

Who calleth ye : 
Would that I might as trusting be ! 

187 



FKIENDS. 

TO CARA. 

'"pHERE is only the river between us, dear, 
•*- And we can come and go, 
And though you are there and I am here 

I am filled with content, for I know 
You are moving brightly about the house 

Busy with many a task, 
And often alone in your fair sweet room 
In the morning light or the evening gloom 
You think of me, 
You pray for me, 
And, oh, what more can I ask ! 

Daily, indeed, I wish you were here, 
And when I am doubtful or vexed 
I long for your counsels calm and clear, 

But I do the thing that lies next. 
And He who is more than any friend 

Makes everything easy and straight. 
And it is not so hard as I feared to go 
In the way untried, and as long as I know 
You think of me 
And you pray for me, 
Eor everything else I can wait. 
188 



FRIENDS. 189 

Some day I shall go to her, I say, 

Or she will come over to me ; 
In a little space I shall see her face, 

This very day it may be. 
So I will not mind the things unkind, 

The bitter that might be sweet, 
But strive with a better, braver heart 
To fight the good fight and bear my part, 
While she thinks of me 
And prays for me, 

And very soon we shall meet. 

Sometimes I ponder how it will be 

When you drift to some home afar ; 
And sometimes how when you are gone 

Where the saints and angels are. 
When another river shall flow between 

That never can be recrossed ; 
But still I say, whatever betide. 
Though earth may part us or death divide, 
She will think of me, 
She will pray for me ; 

My friend can never be lost. 

For friendship to live must be to love. 

To remember must be to pray. 
So living or dying your prayers must be mine 

And mine must be yours alway. 



190 FRIENDS. 

And, oh, in the light of Paradise, 

Most faithful of friends, most dear, 
Unhindered by weakness or doubt, and wise 
With the wisdom that sees not with earthly eyes, 
It surely must be 
You will pray for me 
As you could not pray for me here ! 



THE LILACS. 

T_T E AV Y with fragrance and with dew, 

I see them in the moonlight pale, — 
The lilac-plumes that, two and two, 
Nod to the wind's low wail. 

Purple and white, I see them wave, — 
Purple for valor, white for truth ; 

And far away I see a grave 

Where lies the flower of youth ! 

191 



THE RIVER. 



A BOVE the winding River's brink 
•^ ^ The tall trees wave their branches green ; 
Their cool brown roots, washed bare and clean, 
.Reach down through cooler depths to drink. 



" Behold, how heavenly is my task," 
Methinks the River murmurs low 
" As God bestoweth, I bestow ; 

To be like Him is all I ask." 

River, thou and I are one 

In sweet desire to serve and be ; 
Yet every day I grieve to see 

How all my deeds do self ward run ! 
192 



THE DOVES. 

pRETTY doves, so blithely ranging 

Up and down the street ; 
Glossy throats all bright hues changing, 
Little scarlet feet. 

Pretty doves ! among the daisies 

They should coo and flit ! 
All these toilsome, noisy places 

Seem for them unfit. 

Yet amidst our human plodding 

They must love to be ; 
With their little heads a-nodding, 

Busier than we. 

Close to hoof and Avheel they hover, 

Glancing right and left. 
Sure some treasure to discover ; 

Eapid, shy, and deft. 

Friendliest of feathered creatures, 

In their timid guise ; 
Wisdom's little silent teachers, 

Praying us be wise. 

193 



194 THE DOVES. 

Fluttering at footsteps careless. 

Danger swift to flee, 
Lowly, trusting, faithful, fearless, 

Oh that such were we ! 

In the world and yet not of it, 
E-eady to take wing, — 

By this lesson could we profit 
It were everything ! 



THE LINGEEING OCTOBEE WEATHEE. 

TO MRS. H. E. H. 

T~AO you recall our pleasant walk, 
^-"^ The last, dear friend, we took together, 
Our leisurely pace, our quiet talk, 
The lingering October weather ? 

How still the world was ! Not a breath 

To lift a leaf or float a feather ; 
A hush of happiness, not death, 

That lingering October weather. 

While like some frolic creature tied , 

By sweet content's unconscious tether, 

Your little one walked close beside 
That lingering October weather. 

The lazy crows above our head 

Went slowly sailing through the ether; 

The dry leaves rustled at our tread 
That lingering October weather. 

We followed up the winding road 

Where shore and river kissed each other, 

And Nature's peace our hearts o'erflowed 
That lingering October weather. 

195 



196 TEE LINGERING OCTOBER WEATHER. 

Against the background of the pines 
The birch and maple leaned together; 

A flame ran through the blackberry vines 
That lingering October weather. 

Fair vistas opened either side, 

Of hill or stream, or both together ; 

But one the hush on wood and tide 
That lingering October weather. 

The distant mountain seemed a cloud 
Or like a melting opal rather, 

With such a gracious light endowed, 
That lingering October weather. 

I looked upon your happy face ; 

I watched you as we walked together ; 
I thought : She fills so fair a place ! 

That lingering October weather. 

With dancing eyes in swift surprise 
You stooped a wilding rose to gather ; 

A rose, the pet of summer skies, 

Still blooming through October weather ! 

I thought how like the rose you were ! 

Though youth and summer fly together, 
!N"o frost, I said, will visit her. 

But lingering October weather. 



THE MOEXING CHAMBER. 



npHIS flower-like chamber, delicately walled, 
-*- Of softest tints, low ceiled, wide and fair. 
Where pensive meditations seem installed 

Like cloistered nuns long-motionless in prayer; 
This lovely chamber, looking south and east 

Across green seas of rippling foliage dense, 
Whose waiting windows catch the first and least 

Soft glimmer from that heavenly chamber 
whence 
The sun rejoicing cometh ; this sweet room, 

While folded yet in slumbers incomplete 
The whole fair house beside lies wrapt in gloom ; 

This morning chamber, high above the street, 
Day's silent glory floods and overflows 
With golden calm that crowns the night's repose. 

n. 

High noon ! and fuller floods of sunshine pour 
Into this shining chamber till it seems — 
The very hidden rafters, secret beams — 

To swim in splendor ! I but cross the floor 

197 



198 THE MORNING CHAMBER. 

And I forget 't is Winter, keen as clear. 
To the swift eyes of mine imagining 
Wide stand the windows, and the breath of 
Spring, 

Sweet courier of the violets, is here. 

I half resolve to hie me out and see 
How like a tiny army they possess 
The earth — the violets, with their loveliness, 

When, of a sudden, breaks my reverie ! 

But the warm flood fills all the chamber yet. 

And ere it ebbs I ivill again forget ! 

III. 

Fair as the peace that like a river flows. 

Across the room the cloudless moonlight streams ; 
Recess and corner dusk its hallowing beams 
Suffuse with mist-like glimmer of repose. 
So hushed this chamber, and so rapt this tide 
Of visible calm, that blessed visions rise 
Of the Great City of Peace beyond the skies, 
Of crystal waters that perpetual glide 
From out the Throne, swift light descending light 
Forever and forever, with a sound 
Of inconceivable music music-drowned 
In rain of benediction from the might 
And majesty of One enthroned above, — 
The Light of Light, whose Name of Names is 
Love ! 



IN SPEING-TIME. 



A LL rosy-white the orchard shows, 
•^^ All blossom-sweet the west wind blows, 
And sights and scents together bring 
To yearning hearts the joy of Spring. 

Through sunny vapors streams the sun, 
And lights and showers blend in one ; 
The fragrant rain through fragrance falls 
And grape-vines bud on sheltering walls. 

Out-warbling from his generous throat, 
The golden robin's golden note 
Calls to the lily and the rose 
Still greenly hid in leafy close. 

Hills capped with silence, as with snow, 
Catch laughter faint of brooks below ; 
With starry dandelions gay 
The meadows mimic night by day. 

Dim-cloistered in the odorous wood, 
A shadow-loving sisterhood, 
The wild flowers that the sun forswear 
Are pale as pious nuns with prayer. 

199 



200 IN SPRING-TIME. 

Like one refreshed by balmy sleep, 
Her inmost bosom warm and deep 
A-throb with beauty yet unborn, 
Earth breathes away the blissful morn. 

From sunny nooks that dream of bloom 
To where gray moss o'ergrows the tomb, 
Floats everywhere that precious breath — 
The Life that ever conquers Death. 

This is the joy of Spring, indeed ; 
The witness glad to Word and Creed ; 
The lovely Parable of Earth 
That pointeth to Immortal Birth ! 



HOSPITALITY. 

TO MRS. H. E. H. 

SWEET friend, whose hospitality 
Pervades your house like summer air, 
And at whose board I ever find 
A welcome marvellously kind 

Erom all the dear ones gathered there ; 

How often when I take my place 

One thought of swift regret will come, 

That to your circle I can bring 

In glad return no precious thing 
To swell your pleasure's happy sum j 

Nothing but simple loving rhymes 

For some occasion like to-day, 
When any one, however dull, 
Some common flowers of thought might cull 

And weave them in a birthday lay. 

And this is all I bring you now, 

A song of little worth, indeed. 
Whose end a version poor will prove 
Of one true poem that I love — 

A poem that I daily read — 

201 



202 HOSPITALITY. 

Of manhood high, and womanhood 

Its equal match in loveliness ; 
Of girlhood ripening hour by hour 
As simply as a wayside flower 

That knows and knows not heaven's caress 

Of childhood gay as butterflies 

That frolic as they lightly roam ; 
Of babyhood, whose dimpled hand 
Holds all the house in dear command, — 
The poem of your own sweet home ! 



TWO MEN. 



T OSSES on losses, fast they came ; 
■■— ' Men said : " There 's left him but his name ; 
But that is free from blot or blame." 

Despairing, bowed with care and dread, 

As if he heard, he raised his head ; 

" Thank God, I have my name ! " he said. 

II. 

A palace ; gilded ease and glare ; 

Loud jests and laughter ; banquets rare ; 

Dark hints of foul beneath the fair. 

At daybreak, on a sleepless bed, 
He moaned and turned his fevered head ; 
" I 've all things but a name ! " he said. 

203 



MY NAMESAKE. 

TIj^EOM silvery clouds the silvery showers 
-*- Fell o'er the earth ; 
Stole softly forth the faint, sweet flowers 
Of April birth. 

An April babe my namesake came 

One April day ; 
Just claimed on earth her place, her name, 

And fled away. 

A few soft sighings of the breath 

And it was spent ; 
Too frail for life, too sweet for death, 

She came and went. 

So brief a stay, so swift a flight. 

Could scarce be felt ; 
Thus snowflakes falling light as light 

Touch earth and melt. 

If verily she hath been here 

We hardly know ; 
The frailest blossoms of the year 

Her days outgrow. 
204 



MY NAMESAKE. 205 

Sweet month of soft unsorrowing sighs 

And fragrant breath ; 
Of tender, showery, brooding skies ; 

Of life, not death ; 

Her faint sweet memory entomb 

In violets, 
The pathos of whose faint perfume 

Breathes no regrets ! 

How strange to enter Paradise, 

As she to-day, 
With not one tear in those sweet eyes 

To wipe away ! 



VALENTINE TO A PEIEST. 
(h. e. h.) 

A LL ministries of love are thine, 
•^^^ Of human love and love Divine ; 
With wife of more than maiden charms, 
And children sheltered in thy arms, 
And cure of souls in that vast fold 
Whose millions never can be told, 
Thou verily art made acquaint, 
Beloved priest, with this day's Saint — 
Saint Valentine ! 
206 



THE SINGER. 

OHE sits and sings in the room below, 
^ A tender ballad of love and woe 
Wedded to music plaintive and slow. 

And who would dream that her heart is gay, 
While she singeth so sad a lay — 
Seeming to pour her soul away ? 

Why not ? She doeth her heart no wrong ; 
Lips joy-laden the whole day long 
Well can afford to sorrow in song ! 

So keep her, Heaven ! nor let her know 
Other sighings than those that flow, 
Rhythmic, through ballads of love and woe. 

207 



THE EOSE OF JERICHO. 

TO E. J. P. 

"\/0U love a legend. Here is one : 
-*" When Joseph warned in dreams by night 
Took Mary and her Blessed Son 

And they to Egypt made their flight, 

As through the desert wild they went 

By angels led and undismayed, 
A flower sprang np of sweetest scent 

Where'er the Virgin's steps were stayed. 

'T is fabled that this flower since then 
Blooms only on some feast-day high, 

And chiefly when comes round again 
The Feast of Christ's Nativity. 

Be this sweet legend true or no, 

'T is true that Mary went that way, 

And true the Rose of Jericho 

Blooms in my thoughts this Christmas Day. 
208 



THE ROSE OF JERICHO. 209 

And in the fragrant flower I find, 
My darling child, a lesson true ; 

A sermon and a song enshrined 
That I in love unfold for you. 

When through life's desert places led 

By holy angels unaware, 
Intent on mercy's deeds you tread 

And make God's needy ones your care. 

If in your arms the Christ Child dear 

You carry wheresoe'er you go, 
In every place earth's wilds to cheer 

Will spring the Eose of Jericho. 



"PEACE, TEOUBLED SOUL." 



SWEET grows the world to-day and fair, 
Seen througli the Spring-time's lovely 
sheen — 
A tender mist of golden-green 

That veils the earth and fills the air. 



And lightly, softly blows the breeze, 
With blossom-odors interblent, 
And interwoven with their scent 

The murmurous hum of golden bees. 

And mingling with their braided balm, 
A voice of dreamy sweetness near 
Half sings, half sighs, in plaintive cheer, 

A strain that linketh calm with calm. 

On Nature's heart mine own I rest ; 
" Peace, troubled soul," she soft entreats : 
" Peace, troubled soul," the voice repeats. 

In the low psalm that suits me best. 
210 



''PEACE, TROUBLED SOUL:' 211 

And through the mist of faith I see 
A vision fair of One who stands 
And stretches out His pierced hands, 

Saying, " My peace I give to thee." 



IN MEMOEIAM. 



(A. B. M. entered into rest, Oct. 8, 1883.) 

T WATCH them passing to and fro, 

A little band of maidens fair ; 
I count each sweet familiar face, 
But one I look for is not there. 

How strange it seems her face to miss 
With bloom of youth and health aglow : 

So strong, so glad her hold on life, 

Who would have dreamed she first would go 

Amidst this group of happy girls 

Her bright, responsive, buoyant ways 
Winged every task, and seemed to add 
. New sunshine to the sunniest days. 

Thus sped the gay, unconscious hours, 

Yet oft within the sacred fane 
Their voices mingled in the chant, 

And it was hers that led the strain. 
212 



IN MEMORIAM. 213 

And in her wanderings ere she died 

She dreamed herself in church once more, 

And said Our Father and the Creed, 
Then sang the Gloria o'er and o'er. 

Sweeter than fabled song of bird 
That drifting with the tide expires, 

Those failing notes her watchers heard — 
The hymn of God's celestial choirs. 

So singing down the tide of time 
Death came to her in sweet disguise, 

And so her bright young soul passed on 
Melodious into Paradise. 

Still in the one Communion vast. 
The Church at rest beyond the veil, 

She sings with you, little band, 
The Glorias that shall never fail. 



THE HOME AMONG THE HILLS. 

"|V /TIDWAY between these towering hills 
■^' -*" One lonely human dwelling ; 
The circling acres, culture swept, 
Its little history telling ! 

On either hand the meadow land 
Makes fair the mountain spaces 

With golden reach of buttercups 
And silver drift of daisies. 

Behind, the massive forest wall ; 

Before, the river running ; 
And close about the little cot 

The signs of human cunning : 

The signs so homely and so sweet 

That draw us to each other. 
And make the daily life of man 

Familiar to his brother. 

We know the hand at early morn 
That cottage hearth-fire kindling ; 

We watched the dropping of this corn ; 
We wait its purple spindling ! 
214 



TEE HOME AMONG THE HILLS. 215 

A part have we in all the toils 

Of these our mountain neighbors ; 

A portion in the precious gain 

Heaven winnows from their labors. 

We taste their trials, share their feasts, 

And with a passing wonder 
We linger even while we go, 

Their choice, their lot to ponder. 

Amid the grandeur and the gloom 

On every hand abiding, 
A flower of human blossoming 

This little home is hiding. 



^o 



What tender wind of Providence 
The small seed hither drifted 

Where yet these shadows vast may fall 
On village spires uplifted ? 

Less awful seem those hills august, 
Less lone the valley's glooming, 

Since in this wilderness the rose 
Of human life is blooming ! 



AN EASTEE INCIDENT. 

T N moonlight the world was sleeping, 
■^ As it slept on that night of old 
When the wonderful angel descended 

And the stone from the sepulchre rolled ; 
The vigil of Easter was ended, 

The hour of midnight tolled. 

In one of the countless chambers 

Where slumber held its sway, 
Dreaming perhaps of Easter 

A tranquil sleeper lay, 
When the whisper of wings beside her 

Wafted her dreams away. 

Is it a bird ? she wondered, 

Lifting her startled head 
As she heard the delicate flitting 

Circle around her bed, 
And anon against the casement 

The sweep of those wings outspread. 
216 



AN EASTER INCIDENT. 217 

It was not the palpitant flutter 

Of some poor terrified thing 
That beateth the bars of its prison, 

And bruiseth its tender wing, 
But an eager, exultant motion. 

Glad as the pulse of spring. 

The flash of a thought, and the listener 

Had lighted her lamp anew, 
And wide on the shadowy chamber 

Its fullest radiance threw ; 
When straightway toward its shining 

The beautiful visitant flew. 



A moth, a marvel of measure 

From tip to tip of its wings. 
Painted in colors resplendent — 

Lightest and fairest of things ; 
Type of the Kesurrection, 

The angel's own message it brings ! 

Did the angel himself, descending 

And passing through hamlet and town 

To waken once more the faithful, 
Their sorrow with joy to crown, 

Touch with finger transcendent 
That tiniest cradle brown ? 



218 AN EASTER INCIDENT. 

There lay the chrysalis empty, 
Frail shell of the past, outworn ; 

Here was the living creature 
Exulting in beauty new-horn, 

And trembling as if to utter 
The truth of the Easter morn ! 



THE BOY WHO CAERIED THE CEOSS. 

(W. A. D. W. entered into rest July 13, 1883, aged 14 years.) 

TTENCEFOETH I shall always see him 
■'--'■ As he looked when he led the way 

For the children marching churchward 
Upon some festal day ; 

As I saw him that first fair Easter 

In the light of the " day of days,^' 
When they entered God's gates with thanksgiving, 

And into His courts with praise. 

He was born to be a leader, 

I thought, as he led that throng, 
Unconscious of self and comely. 

Modest and noble and strong. 

Princely in stature and bearing 

And steadfast of hand and eye, 
He carried the Church's standard, 

The Cross of Jesus, on high. 

219 



220 THE BOY WHO CARRIED THE CROSS. 

On his fair, unsullied forehead 

Once signed with that sign of grace, 

I could almost see its glory 
Lighting his lovely face. 

First and foremost by virtue 
Of all that youth could claim, 

He was first and foremost also 
In a life that knew no blame. 

So brilliant his future's promise 
Fame must be his portion, we said ; 

But the crown of Christian triumph 
Already ennobled his head. 

Unselfish, beloved and ardent 

Whether in labor or play, 
He carried his dear Lord's honor 

Wherever he wended his way. 

And if he had lived to gather 
The laurels of all the earth, 

And all the winds of heaven 
Had wafted to men his worth ; 

If he had lived, and dying 

Been mourned as a nation's loss, 

I still should have seen but this vision 
Of the boy who carried the Cross. 



A GLIMPSE OF HEAVEN. 

npHE clouds are breaking — radiant scene ! 
•^ Blue, blue as only heaven is blue ; 
The heaven that Heaven itself smiles through 
Unfolds its depths serene. 

Oh fair as Hope the rainbow gleams 
The tempest's angry frown above, 
But lovely as the Face of Love 

Yon revelation seems I 
221 



SOKG. 

'T^O-MOEEOW has trouble to lend 
■*■ To all who lack to-day ; 
Go, borrow it — borrow, griefless heart, 
An thou with thy peace wilt pay ! 

To-morrow has trouble to lend. 

An endless, endless store ; 
But I have as much as heart can hold — 

Why should I borrow more ! 
222 



WHITE AZALEAS. 

AZALEAS — whitest of white! 
White as the drifted snow 
Fresh-fallen out of the night, 

Before the coming glow 
Tinges the morning light ; 

When the light is like the snow, 
White, 
And the silence is like the light ; 
Light, and silence, and snow, 
All — white! 

White ! not a hint 
Of the creamy tint 

A rose will hold. 

The whitest rose, in its inmost fold ; 
Not a possible blush ; 
White as an embodied hush ; 
A very rapture of white ; 
A wedlock of silence and light. 
White, white as the wonder undefiled 

Of Eve just wakened in Paradise ; 
Nay, white as the angel of a child 

That looks into God's own eyes ! 

223 



SUMMER-TIME. 



O UMMER'S breath has kissed the lovely bloom 
^^ From the apple-trees : 
Out of flower-cups, dripping with perfume, 
Sip the honey-bees. 



Where the vines are strung with roses red 
Dart the humming-birds ; 

Winds, like lovers, in the boughs overhead 
Whisper tender words. 



Clover-crested are the waves of grass 

Where the little feet 
Frolic, deep in coolness, as I pass 

From the sunny street. 

When at eve o'er field and fen and brake 

Misty curtains fall. 
Fire-flies, in their meteor dances, make 

Nightly carnival. 
224 



SWEET-PEAS. 

O WEET-PEAS ! Sweet-Peas ! 
^^ The very sweetest of all sweet things ! 
Airily poised, like butterfly wings, 
On the slender stem. 
And now they brood in a still delight ; 

And anon, as the light wind touches them, 
They tremble and flutter, as feigning flight, 
In coyness — not affright. 
And lest they fly. 
The tricksy Zephyr passes by 
With a little moan of make-believe, 
And pretends to die 
Among the cherry-trees ! 
They only smile — they will not grieve. 
The gay and shy 
Sweet-Peas ! 

Sweet-Peas ! Sweet-Peas I 
The very sweetest of all sweet things ! 
Perfect pink and perfect white ; 
Exhaling a perfume so rare, so pure, 
It ceaseth never to allure, 
Nor faileth ever to satisfy ; 

225 



226 S WEET-PEAS. 

Like a breath of immortality, 
Like a hint of youth unspent for aye ; 
Of love — Ah, well-a-day ! 
Say, ye sweetest of all sweet things, 
Sweet-Peas, 
What are jq likest ? — what like ye ? 
The dream of Beauty, the wonder that clings 
To snowy-lidded Innocence — 
These mystic nebulae 
(Souls of flowers to be). 
Lightly drifted hence. 
And mingling straightway they became 
Visible in pink and white. 

In dainty-delicate forms like these, 
And gat themselves a name ; 

Dew-christened in laver of morning light, 
" Sweet-Peas ! " 

Sweet-Peas ! Sweet-Peas ! 
Here is a handful for her to wear 
Who is sweet like them, and more stately-fair. 
Lie, nosegay of blushes, mid snows of lace. 
And match the bloom of her maiden face 
When cometh her own sweetheart to share 
The posy modest and debonair. 
Whose dear bestowal shall bring him ease 
And sweet assurances. 
Dispelling sweet anxieties, 
Sweet-Peas ! 



SWEET-FEAS. 227 

And will ye have a sweetheart too, 

Sweet-Peas, Sweet-Peas ? 
Then here 's Zephyr come hack to woo, 
If you please ! 
Nay, hut Zephyr is a flirt ! 

Make again your winged threat 
Till in very truth he fret — 
What 's the hurt ? — 
And die among the cherry-trees 
For love of you, 

Sweet-Peas ! 



MIDSUMMER MORNING. 

TAAY rises veiled in amber mists 
^-^ That swathe the hill and shroud the plain ; 
And in the breathless air, unstirred, 
The trees are dripping as with rain. 

Like tents along the emerald sward 
Pitched by the fairies of the night, 

In the wet grass ephemeral webs 

Are scattered, gleaming silver white. 

Dew-drenched the flowers ; the heavy vines 
Hang from the wall, or trail the ground ; 

And lifeless seems the garden-place. 
So lately filled with murmurous sound. 

But slowly, slowly lifts the mist — 
From heaven's blue face it curls away ; 

And through the trembling, glistening leaves 
The glorious sunbeams flame and play ! 
228 



DAY-LILIES. 

O SUMMER day, 
Delay! delay! 
One waving of thy brooding wing, 
One stirring of thy hazy wing, 

And noontide light and heat 
Will find my dewy shadow-lair, 

And burn the coolness from the grasses 

That swathe my feet 

In rank and billowy masses ; 
And to this claustral twilight bring 
The sun's profanest glare. 

O summer day. 
Delay ! delay ! 
Let naked hill and bare brown field 

Parch in thy torrid ray. 
So this dim nook be unrevealed, 

Where I, 
Deliciously concealed, 

Among the lilies lie. 
The delicate Day-lilies ! 
The white and wonderful lilies ! 
My dark green haunt so still is 

229f 



230 I>^ Y-LILIES. 

The wildest birdling dare not sing, 
Nor insect beat a gossamer wing, 
Nor zephyr lift the lightest thing, 

Here, where the lustrous lilies, 

The clear, resplendent lilies, 
Pour out their heavenly-sweet perfume, 

And with their snowiness. 
In clusters chaste, illume 

This dusk recess. 

Soft-footed Silence, royal nun ! 

In this thy humid, emerald cell 

Forever dwell ! 
These flowers supernal ever shine, 
Pure-flamed, before thy virgin shrine ! 
Here, one by one, 

Tell o'er thy glistering, roral beads, — 

A rosary strung on tangled weeds 

And blades and stems that intertwist. 
The breath of lilies be thy prayers, 
Sweet-odored, wafted unawares 
Up through the morning's lucent airs 

And evening's pallid mist ! 
The glittering stars shall o'er thee pass, 
Deep-pillowed in the heavy grass ; 

These broad, smooth lily-leaves shall be 

A glossy coverlet for thee, 

Thy prayers and penance done, 
royal nun ! 



DAY-LILIES. 231 

By day or night, 

In dark or light, 
Thy fragrant shrine shall be the same ; 

These slender tapers lambent still, 

Nor blazing sun, nor mildew chill, 
Shall quench their alabaster flame. 

A gleam, as of a crystal wand ! 

And Day peers in with curious face 5 
The jealous sunshine, stealing round. 

Doth warily chase 

The cool, dank shadows on the ground ; 
The cloister-walls no longer stand ; 

A garish glory fills the space, 
And lights the lush grass, loose and long ; 
And startled by the wild bird's song, 

Soft-footed Silence flees apace ; 
But still serene the lilies shine. 
Pure-flamed, before her ruined shrine ! 



HELIOTROPE. 

C WEETEST, sweetest Heliotrope ! 
^^ In the sunset's dying splendor, 
In the trance of twilight tender, 
All my senses I surrender 

To the subtle spells that bind me : 
The dim air swimmeth in my sight 
With visions vague of soft delight ; 

Sliadowy hands with endless chain 
Of purple-clustered bloom enwind me ; 
Garlands drenched in dreamy rain 
Of perfume passionate as sorrow 
And sad as Love's to-morrow ! 
Bewildering music fills mine ears — 
Faint laughter and commingling tears — 
Flowing like delicious pain 
Through my drowsy brain. 
Bosomed in the blissful gloom 

IMeseems I sink on slumberous slope 
Buried deep in purple bloom, 
Sweetest, sweetest Heliotrope ! 
232 



DAY-DEEAMING. 

HOW better am I 
Than a butterfly ? 
Here, as the noiseless hours go by, 
Hour by hour, 

I cling to my fancy's half-blown flower ; 
Over its sweetness I brood and brood, 
And scarcely stir though sounds intrude 
That would trouble and fret another mood 
Less divine 
Than mine ! 

Wlio cares for the bees ! 

I will take my ease, 

Dream and dream as long as I please ; 

Hour by hour 

With love-wings fanning my sweet, sweet flower ! 

Gather your honey and hoard your gold 

Through spring and summer, and hive through 

cold! 
I will cling to my flower till it is mould, 
Breathe one sigh 
And die ! 

233 



SOKG. 



npHE wind blows out of the west, 
-*■ The wind is merry and free ; 
It brings fair weather for us, love, 
Fair weather for thee and me. 



The sun shines out of the east, 

And dances over the sea ; 
The world 's aglitter for us, love, 

Aglitter for thee and me. 

And now the world 's a-dusk. 
The nest unstirred on the tree ; 

The fair moon hangs at its full, love, 
And shineth for thee and me. 
234 



INCOGNITA. 



T 7EILED in verse, who knows 
' Whether I smile or weep ? 

Slippered in fancies, who can tell 
What measure of step I keep ? 

Lift the veil, dear Love ! 

To thee I will show my face ; 
Hark, and thine ear shall surely hear 

My heart's inaudible pace ! 

235 



JUNE SONGS. 
I. 

CAPRICE. 

n^HE rose is dead in my Lady's bower ; 
•^ The love is dead in my Lady's heart ! 
The rose was only a summer flower, 
Born to die in a summer hour — 
To yield its life to the passionate shower 
That tore its radiant leaves apart. 

The rose-tree will blossom again, I know, 
But what care I for to-morrow's flower ? 

Some idle wind will capriciously blow ; 

The rain's wild feet will trample it ; oh, 

Pluck it who will ! for myself I go 

And leave the rose in my Lady's bower ! 

II. 

CONSTANCY. 

I RIFLED a leaf from the heart of a rose : — 

Believe ! believe ! 
Though love comes lightly, not lightly it goes ; 
236 



JUNE SONGS. 237 

It steals through our veins and our .youth's white 

flower 
Blossoms in crimson from that hour ; 
Life of our life, it cannot deceive ! 
I love thee, I love thee, believe ! 

Oh, fancies are fitful as breezes that blow — 

Believe ! believe ! 
They come to us lightly, more lightly they go ; 
Diviner than duty, and stronger than will, 
Love, the sweet mystery, rules me still j 
Tyranny tender, it cannot deceive ; 
I love thee, I love thee, believe ! 

III. 

PETITION. 

Only the roses will hear ; 

Dear, 
Only the roses will see ! 
This once — just this ! 
Ah, the roses I wis 
They envy me ! 

Here is a half -blown spray ; 

Say 
This shall Love's anadem be ! 
A rose-strung wreath 
For thy brow, and beneath 
A rose for me ! 



238 JUNE SONGS. 

IV. 

EXPECTANCY. 

Summer, rain me a rain of rose-leaves ; 

Only on rose-leaves she shall tread ! 
Summer, rain me a rain of rose-leaves 

Over the banquet Love hath spread. 

Never Orient feast so splendid. 
Viands so costly, wines so rare ; 

Never showers of bloom descended 
Veiling a princess half so fair ! 

Summer, make her a couch of roses. 
Pillows of rose-leaves lightly prest; 

Odors sweet when my Love reposes 
Dreamily drifting round her rest ! 

Come, Beloved, the feast awaits thee : 
Cruelly traitor moments flee ! 

Is it sorrow or joy belates thee ? 

Heedest thou aught unshared by me ! 

Coming I O rapture more than mortal ! 

Softly the gates of bliss unclose ; 
Silence, guarding the sacred portal. 

Wears in her breast the symbol rose ! 



QUEEN NATUEE. 



THIS is her palace azure-domed and fair 
Where lavish Nature feasts the royal Year 
And Cleopatra-like dissolves the pearls 
Of winter in the amber cup of spring. 

239 



LOVE'S VISITATION. 

T T 7'AS ever yet the world so fair ! 
^ ^ The long, sweet day ! the tender night ! 
A fragrant thrill pervades the air — 
Spring's ever newly waked delight. 

It floods the azure realm above ; 

It quickens all the sod below ; 
It is the very soul of Love, 

And song and bloom its overflow. 

No living thing unconscious named 
But knows the depth of this delight. 

And filled with joy and unashamed 
Leaves joy to fashion joy aright. 

The bluebird's note is all his own ; 

The thrush one matchless song repeats ; 
And murmurs Love translates alone 

Hint how the brooding dove-heart beats. 

At eve the stars grow dim with dreams ; 

At morn the wandering waysides blush ; 
More sweet the brook's low babble seems. 

Wed with the woodland's happy hush. 
240 



LOVE'S VISITATION. 241 

Beneath the sapphire-gleaming arch 

Like mated swans the white clouds sail ; 

And consciously yon lovely larch 
Lets down her swaying vernal veil. 

And picturing scenes where lance and spur 
For Love their utmost valor spent, 

Lo ! in the fields a golden stir — 
The dandelions' tournament. 

As on the wings of old romance 

The pageant of the fields shall pass ; 

Where now the golden flowers glance 
Pale phantoms float across the grass. 

But each returning Spring of time 
Love — Love shall still be born anew ; 

The spirit of an heavenly clime 

Crown earth with bridal bloom and dew. 



TO A SLEEPING CHILD. 

lyj OT thus, joyous child, repose 

^ ^ With crossed hands on thy baby breast ; 

Pathetic attitude of those 

Who wake not, stir not from their rest ! 

With dimpled arm thy head surround, 
Like as a bird with bonny wing ; 

Sure as a bird at morn to bound 

From this thy nest and, birdlike, sing ! 
242 



A VIGIL. 



T^AEK shore, and desolate sky 
^^ Unquickened by a star ; 
Sad sea where wandering sails are lost 
In night afar ! 

No human presence sweet, 
Nor other sound beside 
Save that to silence near akin — 
The ebbing tide. 

Only a lonely wreck 

High on the lonely beach, 
Whose hopelessness defies at last 
The breaker's reach. 

Earth that keeps no watch, 

O Heaven that lights no star, 
He is who cares for every sail. 
Each broken spar ! 

243 



THE CEICKETS. 

"piPE, little minstrels of the waning year, 

In gentle concert pipe ! 
Pipe the warm noons ; the mellow harvest near ; 

The apples dropping ripe ; 

The tempered sunshine and the softened shade ; 

The trill of lonely bird ; 
The sweet sad hnsh on Nature's gladness laid; 

The sounds through silence heard ! 

Pipe tenderly the passing of the year ; 

The summer's brief reprieve ; 
The dry husk rustling round the yellow ear ; 

The chill of dawn and eve ! 

Pipe the untroubled trouble of the year ; 

Pipe low the painless pain ; 
Pipe your unceasing melancholy cheer ; 

The year is in the wane ! 
244 



TO THE BLUE GENTIAN. 

T TNFOLD, O fairest Flower, and share 
^^ The benediction of this air 
That softly floweth everywhere, 
And blesseth most the things most fair ! 

Twice welcome flowers when flowers grow few ; 
Thrice welcome, thou, of heavenly hue — 
The rarest, tenderest shade of blue 
That Earth's dear bosom ever knew ! 

The golden-rod resigns his plume, 
And all frail beauty seeks a tomb. 
Bequeathing thee more ample room 
Wherein to set thy fairer bloom. 

Unfold, thy gentle right to claim, 
O Flower of softest tint and name ! 
Thy bashfulness delays like shame. 
Yet lovelier makes thy lovely fame. 

To exile only half resigned, 
Her locks with violet-memories twined, 
Departing Summer turns to find 
How fair a thing she leaves behind. 

245 



246 TO THE BLUE GENTIAN. 

And since the Summer henceward flies, 
Thou, darling of these lonely skies, 
The dearer art to human eyes, 
Unfolding as a sweet surprise ! 



NOTHING TO DO. 

A STEIP of snowiest linen 
"^^*- Half broidered and stamped in blue, 
And the gleam of a threadless needle 

Piercing the pattern through : 
The needle is ready, yet the sweet little lady 

Sits sighing for something to do. 

Heaped on the table beside her 

Blossoms of every hue ; 
Delicate, odorous roses — 

The rarest that ever grew : 
The vase stands ready while the sweet little lady 

Sits wishing for something to do. 

Half hid under flowers a volume 

In daintiest gold and blue, 
Just parted, as if it would open 

At " The Miller's Daughter " for you : 
The book lies ready, yet the sweet little lady 

Sits sighing for something to do. 

247 



248 NOTHING TO DO. 

A silent harp in the corner, 

And melodies old and new 
Scattered in pretty disorder — 

Songs of the false and the true : 
The harp stands ready — still the sweet little lady 

Sits longing for something to do. 

A sudden wind-sweep and flutter — 

The door wide open blew ; 
A step in the hall, and swiftly, 

Like a bird, to the threshold she flew : 
Blushing, already the sweet little lady 

Forgets she has nothing to do ! 



THE COAT. 

TV T EECUEIUS wove a coat 
^^^ Of the finest thread of wit ; 
"Wear it," he said to his jesting friends, 
" You whom the coat may fit." 

Now he to whose lot it fell 

Sore envied all the rest, 
For strange to say it gave the least ease 

To him whom it fitted best. 

249 



T 



IK AUTUMN. 

^HE cool, bright days, 
The cahn, bright days, 
With their liberal-hearted noons ! 
The clear, still nights, 
The restful nights. 
With their greatening harvest-moons ; 
And the ghostly rustle of withered corn 
Plucked of its ivory ears and shorn 
Of the floating fringes that tossed and swayed 
When the ripening summer zephyr played 
Through the ranks that shone in the summer 
morn — 

The beautiful corn ! 

The golden days ! the golden days ! 
Warm with sunshine and dreamy with haze ; 
Warm with the sunshine and cool with the breeze ! 
Like troops of tropical butterflies 
Clouds of leaves from the gorgeous trees 

Flutter and fall, 
And cover the earth with splendid dyes 
Matching the marvels of sunset skies. 
250 



IN AUTUMN. 251 

Swell beyond swell the hills uplift — 
The hills serene ; 
Slope beyond slope they ebb away 
Into the distance azure-gray ; 
And over them all, 

Through veils of amethyst vaguely seen 
Magical lights incessantly shift, 

Moved by the wonder hands of Day — 
Over the hills serene ! 

No ripple breaks 
The lucid lakes 
Up from whose margins the gay banks climb — 

Into whose deeps the shadows descend 
Like sunken gardens in their prime, 
Whose softly-pictured terraces end 
In emerald grottos where Naiads dream 
While the unstirred rushes over them stream. 
From the woodbine draping the cottage thatch 
The wandering winds as they pass, 
Tenderly, one by one, detach 
Leaves of crimson that flame in the sun : 

One by one. 
Slowly downward they waver, and twirl. 
And alight on the trampled grass. 
Day by day the vine-leaves curl 
Kevealing the heavily hanging grapes 
In tempting clusters of rarest shapes, 
That out of the heart of summer grew ; 



252 IN AUTUMN. 

Dusky-purple and amber- white, 

Warmed in the nooning and cooled in the night, 

Mingled of honey, and sunlight, and dew. 
The breeze through the orchard-alley sweeps, 
And russet-brown leaves in dusty heaps 

Eddy and whirl ; 
And russet-brown apples, and rosy-cheeked, 
Tall from the ruddy half-rifled bough, 
Strewing the grassy patch 
With its footpath trail below. 
Where the bare-headed, sunburnt farmer's girl 
Gathers the fairest and leaves the rest 
For the gold-brown bee in his honey quest. 
And the zealous ants that busily swarm 
Over the bruises mellow and warm ; 
While chicks full feathered and yellow-beaked 
E-oam in the sunshine and leisurely scratch 
For the helpless worm withdrawing its coil 
Lazily into the loosened soil. 

Streaming in at the wide barn door 
Warm lies the sun on the well-worn floor 
Scattered with wisps of straw and grain 
From the generous wain. 
Heaped high as the rafters the sweet-smelling hay 
O'erhangs the bursting loft, 
And a breath from the orchard croft 
Stirs the loosened spears, and they drop away 
Noiselessly-soft ! 



IN AUTUMN. 253 

The mellow days ! the mellow days ! 
The brown seed ripens and bursts the pod ; 

The brown seed ripens, the stem decays, 
The black root rotting under the sod. 
The lattice o'er-straggled by faded vines 

Leans to its fall, 
And here and there by the garden wall 
And beside the late-neglected walks, 
Amid blackened weeds and mouldering stalks 
Where the fly in his mail of emerald shines, 

Flowers of garish beauty bloom 

Like torches that flare at the mouth of a tomb. 
Phantom of summer, silver fair, 
Peacefully restless through the air 
With the unseen currents that softly flow 
Drifts the thistle-down to and fro. 

The yellow days ! the yellow days ! 
Fields of stubble and naked ways ! 
The year's last gold 
On the uttermost bough 
Flutters mournfully now ! 
The sumach that burned like the bush of old 

Is almost stripped of its fire ; 
And trampled out by the rains that beat 
The sodden paths with their million feet 
The last bright hues expire ! 



THE BELL IN THE TOWEE. 

T HEAE the bell in the high church-tower 
■^ Striking the hour ; 

The hushed Night hearkens like one who stands 
In sudden awe with uplifted hands. 

A Spirit up in the tower doth dwell, 

And when the bell 
Peals out the hours with a measured chime, 
I hear him turning the sands of time. 

He says : " Life dieth with every breath ; " 

Whispers of death : 
" It is the fall of the flower of earth ; 
The promise-seed of immortal birth. 



J? 



He speaks to the striving world below : 

" Why do ye so ? 
Will all the treasure that hand can hold 
Buy sweeter sleep in the churchyard mould ? 

" Behold one God over great and small 

Judgeth ye all ; 
Ask Him for grace in the morning light, 
And pray for pardon and peace at night." 
254 



THE BELL IN THE TOWER. 255 

Oh, while I listen my whole soul bows, 

Paying her vows, 
And folly fleetli with sinful fear 
As those clear bell-strokes fall on my ear. 

For not more solemn the holy chimes 

In other times 
That help the faithful to pray aright, 
And put the spirits of air to flight. 

And ever, ever would I be near 

Daily to hear, 
Daily and nightly, in work or rest, 
The voice that pierces and soothes my breast. 



THE FEAST-TIME OF THE YEAE. 

npHIS is the feast-time of the year 
■*- When hearts grow warm and home more 
dear; 
When Autumn's crimson torch expires 
To flash again in winter fires ; 
And they who tracked October's flight 
Through woods with gorgeous hues bedight. 
In charmed circle sit and praise 
The goodly log's triumphant blaze. 

This is the feast-time of the year 

When Plenty pours her wine of cheer, 

And even humble boards may spare 

To poorer poor a kindly share ; 

While bursting barns and granaries know 

A richer, fuller overflow. 

And they who dwell in golden ease 

Bless without toil yet toil to please. 

This is the feast-time of the year : 
The blessed Advent draweth near. 
256 



THE FEAST-TIME OF THE YEAR. 25/ 

Let rich and poor together break 
The bread of love for Christ's sweet sake, 
Against the time when rich and poor 
Must ope for Him a common door, 
Who comes a Guest 3^et makes a feast, 
And bids the greatest and the least. 



GOOD-BY. 

"DID me Good-By! No sweeter salutation 
^^^ Can friendship claim j 

Nor yet can any language, any nation 
A sweeter frame. 

It is not final ; it forebodes no sorrow 

As some declare 
Who born to fretting are so prone to borrow 

To-morrow's share. 

" Good-by " is but a prayer, a benediction 

From lips sincere ; 
And breathed by thine it brings a sweet conviction 

That God will liear. 

" Good-by ! " Yes, " God be with you ; " prayer 
and blessing 

In simplest phrase ; 
Alike our need and His dear care confessing 

In all our ways. 

However rare or frequent be our meeting, 

However nigh 
The last long parting or the endless greeting, 

Bid me Good-By ! 
258 



BRIDE AND SAINT. 



npHEY should be silver bells that ring, 
■■" Lovely one, for thy wedding ; 

Silver bells the bells should be 
That ring for thee. 



They should be bells of purest gold, 
Sweet saint, for thy passing tolled ; 

Golden bells the bells should be 

That toll for thee. 

259 



EOSE AND THOEN. 

T HEAED Philosophy sigh, 
-*■ " No rose is without its thorn ; " 
And Faith made sweet reply, 
" Of thorns are the roses born ! " 
260 



CEADLE SONGS. 

(written for MRS. H. E. H.) 
I. 

SLEEP, sweetest babe, and dream 
In the red firelight's gleam ; 
The storm clouds fill the sky. 
Thou canst not dream of harm, 
Soothed by the mother-charm, 
A tender lullaby. 

Sleep ! Though the wild wind blows 
And drifts the blinding snows, 

All feathery soft they lie. 
The rhythm of the sleet 
Reaches thy hushed retreat, 

A gentle lullaby. 

Close to thy mother's side 
Sleep, warm and satisfied. 

How sweet thy baby sigh ! 
Dear dove ! the storm is o'er ; 
The waves lisp on the shore 

A ceaseless lullaby. 

261 



262 CRADLE SONGS. 

Sleep ! Earth no more is drear 
Since that sweet Babe was here 

Whose angels thronged the sky. 
Sleep ! Only mothers know 
That night of long ago 
When Mary, bending low, 

Sang Jesu's lullaby. 

II. 

Sleep, little sunny head ! 
The morning hours have sped ; 

The noonday sun climbs high. 
The Summer breezes sweet 
Winnow the waving wheat, 

A murmuring lullaby. 

Sleep, little cradled head ! 
Sleep in thy wee white bed 

While mother watches nigh. 
The rustling Summer rain 
Whispers a soft refrain, 

A soothing lullaby. 

Sleep ! Wake and sleep again ! 
No longer croons the rain ; 

The sun drops down the sky. 
Sleep, sleep, and sleeping hear 
The angels fluting near — 

Celestial lullaby. 



CRADLE SONGS. 263 

Sleep, nested like a dove, 
Babe on the breast of love ! 

The mild moon rideth high ; 
The whole world sleeps but one 
Whose watch is never done. 
Whose waking heart sings on 

Love's endless lullaby. 



A HARVEST HYMN. 

WRITTEN FOR THE AMESBURY AND SALISBURY 
AGRICULTURAL EXHIBITION, SEPT. 17, 18G0. 

/^ HAPPY day returned once more 
^-^ With golden plenty still replete ; 
As though she never gave before 

Earth pours her treasures at our feet. 

And ne'er did ruddier fruit fulfil 

The rosy prophecies of May ; 
Ne'er did the rugged lands we till 

Yield sweeter corn or flowers more gay. 

Not one among the many here 

Who prune the tree or plough the soil, 

But has some share in Nature's cheer, 
Some liberal recompense for toil. 

Yet none his choicest stores may boast 
Of flowers or fruit or garnered grain, 

Eor labor of his hands were lost 

Unblest by heaven's refreshing rain. 
264 



A HARVEST IIYMX. 265 



Oh thanks to God whose love abides 
And scatters bounties everywhere 

Who in the heart of Nature hides 
The germ of His unfailing care ! 



More rich than Autumn's robe of leaves 
Should be the garments of our praise, 

And ampler than her ample sheaves 
The charities that crown our days. 

More fragrant than the meadow's breath 
The incense of our souls should rise 

Prom life's rude altars wreathed by Faith 
With borrowed bloom from Paradise. 

Oh, clearly then could we behold 

In flowers that fade and fruits that fall 

Sweet hints which earthly gifts infold 
Of treasure stored in Heaven for all. 



ABRAHAM LINCOL:Nr. 

1865. 

"D EST, rest for liim whose noble work is done ; 
"^ For him who led us gently unaware 
Till we were readier to do and dare 
For Freedom, and her hundred fields were won. 

His march is ended where his march began : 
More sweet his sleep for toil and sacrifice 
And that rare wisdom whose beginning lies 

In fear of God and charity for man : 

And sweetest for the tender faith that grew 

More strong in trial, and through doubt more 

clear, 
Seeing in clouds and darkness One appear 

In whose dread name the Nation's sword he drew. 

Rest, rest for him ; and rest for us to-day 

Whose sorrow shook the land from east to west 
When slain by Treason, on the Nation's breast 

Her martyr breathed his steadfast soul away. 
266 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 267 

fervent heart ! cool and patient head ! 

shoulders broad to bear all others' blame ! 

Mercy disguised herself beneath his name, 
And Justice through his lips like Pity plead. 

His truth could snare the wiliest of the earth ; 

His wit outweigh the ponderous debate ; 

By sneers unvexed, in triumph unelate, 
He stood our chief in place, our chief in worth. 

Behold, kingdoms of the world, behold, 
O mighty powers beyond the swelling wave. 
How fast as rain on his untitled grave 

The tears of millions mingle with the mould ! 

Such love a prince might crave, such homage seek ; 
The people's love that clothed him like a king, 
The grateful trust those hands were swift to bring 

Whose broken fetters of deliverance speak. 

Four years ago unknown — to-day how dear ! 
Four years that tried him with a century's strain. 
While Treason led his wretched hosts in vain 

And turned Assassin when his doom was near. 

Four little years whose space a thought may span ; 
A niche in Time's vast hall where he doth stand. 
To win applause in ever}^ age and land, 

"The noblest work of God — an honest man." 



WOMAN. 

1862. 

A S though no shade of human wrong fell darkly 
"^^^ on their beauty, 
And all men walked in brotherhood the shining 

ways of duty, 
The blessed summer days glide by in calm and 

sweet succession ; 
God writes on Nature's palace-walls no curse 

against oppression. 

The strong man arms him for the fight ; he hears 

the bugle calling ; 
And while between the patriot-shouts her tears 

have time for falling, 
Pale woman plies the threaded steel nor shapes 

her lips to singing, 
But still with every stitch she draws the pearls of 

prayer is stringing. 

She thinks of those whose wounds are fresh ; of 

those in death-sleep lying, 
Whose brows of 3''outh and manhood won their 

brightest crowns in dying ; 
268 



WOMAN. 269 

She thinks of others brave and true hid in the 

smoke of battle, 
Where bayonets gleam and cannon roar and 

bullets hiss and rattle. 



She shudders while the words of fate along the 
wires are chasing, 

Or trembling waits the hurried line some comrade 
may be tracing ; 

Her heart grows faint ; she lifts her hands in an- 
guished imploration : 

" God save my soldier ! " first she prays, and then, 
" God save the nation ! " 



And when she moans, " The very thought of loss 

doth overcome me ! " 
Crying, " If it be possible, oh let this cup pass 

from me ! " 
God chides her not if, choked with sobs, she adds 

to her petition 
But brokenly Christ's after-words of meekness and 

submission. 



He saw her pale with victory in the dark hour of 

trial, 
When Self lay slain, and sorrowing Love was 

fettered with denial ; 



270 WOMAN. 

And the Divine One who alone can clearly read 

the human, 
Traces the Hero's autograph though tear-hlots of 

the Woman. 



SONNETS. 



IKSCEIBED 

TO J. W. AXD C. H. 



O HUT in by clustering roofs and clustering trees, 

^^ Though not far off our blue bright river pours 

Its full swift volume 'twixt the gracious shores, 

How do I long on golden days like these 

For the wide vision of the crested seas 

Where the fleet swallow circles, dips, and soars ; 

Where flash the gull's white wings, the fisher's 

oars, 
And sails that shift and darken in the breeze ! 
Where the white surf along the glistening beach, 
And on the black rocks streaming from the spray, 
Tosses incessant far as eye can reach, 
And ceaseless murmurs most melodious pour. 
Swelling anon, anon to die away. 
While the sweet pines make answer evermore. 

II. 

There stands j^our cottage, peeping from the wood 
And facing all the splendors of the sea, 
On that dear spot where I to-day would be j 
Above, below, azure of sky and flood ; 

273 



274 INSCRIBED TO J. W. AND C. H. 

Boundless seclusion, boundless solitude ; 

And in the midst what social feast for me 

To choice of speech or silence bidden free. 

While winds and waves rock every varying mood ! 

Through doors and windows wide, through all the 

house, 
What breeze-blown odors sweep of spice and balm, 
Hemlock and pine, cedar and wilding rose, 
And miles away the scent of meadow mows ! 
Exhaustless sweetness ; inexpressible calm j 
The lapsing water murmuring, Kepose ! 



A WOODLAND HOUK. 

n^HE stillness of the year in sweet decline ! 
-■- (Precious of all things silence in its turn !) 
'T is like the loving rest for which we yearn 
When summer hopes no longer bloom and shine. 
In the soft shadow of this changeless pine 
The maple boughs have almost ceased to burn. 
How brown the brake ! yet this so delicate fern 
Is at its greenest. Feathery fair and fine 
It waves and floats these mossy trunks between — 
These trunks that veil the axeman's cruel scars ; 
(There are some lives that no misfortune mars ! ) 
Sweet day ! Against yon background dusky green 
That slender birch in the fair distance seen 
Shows like a twinkling cloud of yellow stars. 

275 



THE GOLDEN WEDDING. 

JOINED each to each for better or for worse, 
How have their fifty years of wedlock fled ; 
Time's shadows turned to silver on each head 
That now we crown with laurel-wreath of verse ! 
Not for good deeds that loud tongues might 

rehearse 
And trumpet east and west for men's acclaim — 
Those deeds of love too numberless to name 
That all these years in silentness immerse ; 
Nay, not for anything possessed or done 
We crown them with the honor doubly due, 
But in our grateful joy, because the Hand 
Which wrought the mystery of twain made one, 
Upon this Golden Feast shows forth anew 
How fair that state may be, in Eden planned. 
276 



"SAVE THAT THEEE MAY BE ONE 
LOVE-GAENEEING BREAST." 

OAVE that there may be one love-garnering 
^^ breast 

Will hold us unforgotten when we die, 
From all the paths that most familiar lie 
We shall be missed but few brief days at best. 
Noteless as noiseless pass we to our rest ; 
Slip from the ear and tongue as from the eye. 
Earth knows no break, no change to signify 
Absence or loss ; and Time and Nature, lest 
In our behalf remonstrant they appear, 
Make stealthy haste to blur and cover o'er 
The stone's laborious lettering before 
The yielding mound that settles year by year 
Is levelled, and the place — our last place here — 
That knew us once knows us indeed no more. 

277 



PEOPHECY. 

'"PHE glittering darkness of the perfect night 
-'- An hour before the break of perfect morn, 
When from her slowly-lessening, beauteous horn 
The brilliant moon pours forth a splendid light : 
So glows the radiance of inspired sight, 
Steadfast, serene, by weariness unworn 
And clear of every human doubt forlorn, 
Keeping Eaith's vigil on imperial height — 
While sleeps the world below, unconscious, prone, 
Drunken with things of self and slothful time — 
Until Fulfilment's flood, like morning's prime. 
Through wondrous gates of Promise widely thrown 
Kolls in majestical from zone to zone 
And merges Prophecy in Light sublime. 
278 



"HE OPENED NOT HIS MOUTH." 

TT ACH counts his lot most grievous ; his distress 
-■--' Sorer than other's ; each is prone to harp 
Upon his many trials (though he carp 
At his poor neighbor's fretting none the less) ; 
For all his wrongs there seemeth small redress ; 
No other's ills were ever quite so sharp ; 
Misfortunes all his plans do thwart and warp ; 
No loss his loss can match ; no sorrows press 
Like his ! Ah ! eighteen hundred years ago 
The pangs and penalties of all mankind 
Through all the groaning centuries behind 
And all the wrestling centuries to come 
One Man endured, bound thrice ten years with woe, 
Yet from the Manger to the Cross was dumb ! 

279 



Part III. 

JEANNETTE FRANCES 

AND 

CHARLES EMERSON. 



A LITTLE LESSON. 

T OOK up, dear child, to the happy stars 
■*-^ That glitter in heavenly spaces ; 
No discord their lovely order mars. 

None covet their neighbors' places ; 
Yet some flash out on the wide, dark night, 
And some just shimmer with faint, sweet light. 

It matters little so each but shine 
With all the strength it can gather ; 

The gleam of the least is a gift divine, 
Not mighty but precious rather ; 

No star its fellow-stars envies or shames, 

And the dear Lord calleth them all by their names. 

283 



FOUR. 



T7OUR in one home and each its chief est 
-*- blessing, 

Each the darling centre of fondness and 
delight ; 
Four in one heart and each the whole possessing; 

Mystery of love, love only reads aright ! 



Each little head enhaloed with affection; 

Each little face the sweetest when it smiles ; 
Each claiming first and tenderest protection ; 

Each as the others comforts and beguiles. 

Grouped round his knees or to his shoulders 
clinging, 
Nestling in his arms or climbing up his chair. 
Brimming o'er with laughter, dancing, leaping, 
singing, 
Thus the happy father names his darlings fair : 
284 



FOUR. 285 

Sallie is " my daughter " (my boundless pride and 
pleasure) ; 
Kittie is ^' my child '^ (my offspring and my 
crown) ; 
Louie is "my girl" (my sweetest one, my treasure) ; 
Ethel is "my baby" (the love that love weighs 
down). 

Four in one home and each its chiefest blessing ; 

Each the precious centre of the household sphere ; 
Four in one heart and each the whole possessing ; 

Mystery of love that love alone makes clear ! 



LOVE FOR LOVE. 

/^H the old moon will rise not yet ; 
^-^ 'T is a wearj, weary old moon 
And late, late up ; but we will not fret, 
The new moon will shine for us soon. 

And "where is the new moon," pet ? 

'^ And where does the old moon go ? " 
They never are parted, they never met. 

But each from the other they grow. 

In her bosom the old moon yet 

The new moon shelters and warms, 

And the fair young moon — she will not forget 
But rise with the old in her arms ! 
286 



1 



THE FAIEY^S DILEMMA. 

A LMOST time for the ball of the last summer 
-^ night, 

Said a fairy, crimping her hair, 
And my elfin wardrobe is in such a plight 

I really have nothing to wear ; 

I really am quite in despair I 

My buttercup satin is far from new 

And I do not like the tint ; 
I have worn it twice alreadj^, too, 

And to wear it again would hint 

That I must needs pinch and stint. 

I wish that my wind-flower dress were fresh ; 
How pretty that used to be ! 

So dainty a color ; so dainty a mesh ; 
And vastly well suited to me, 
With pearls from the spray of the sea ! 

My brier-rose silk is slightly defaced 

And I could not match it at all. 
For the season is past ; it needs a new waist ; 

I might wear my gossamer shawl, 

The weather is so like the fall. 

287 



288 THE FAIRY'S DILEMMA. 

And tins reminds me I surely must get 

A new fringed gentian this year, 
And a hoar-frost point — so costly ! Yet 

I really must have it, 'tis clear; 

Yes, let it be never so dear ! 

Oh there is my water-lily gown 

Imported from Slumber Bay, 
With the golden tassels all up and down ; 

But that will be soon passee ; 

I think I will lay it away. 

My violet — violet 's quite gone out ; 

It will rage I 've no doubt next year. 
Oh what shall I get ! and now that the drought 

Has made fairy fabrics so dear ! 

Well, I must not dawdle here. 

My thistle-down phaeton stands at the gate 

And I must go out for a drive ; 
I would go to shop if it were not late ; 

Bless me ! 't is almost five 

By the four-o'clock, as I 'm alive ! 

I have it — I have it ! regardless of cost 

I will send to the Silver Cascade 
For a gown of that rainbow — pure sun-spinning, 
crossed 

With the choicest colors made. 

And warranted never to fade ! 



THE FAIRY'S DILEMMA. 289 

I will fringe it with mist ! What an exquisite 
dress ! 
Most magical thing in air ! 

And here comes the Humming Bird Fairy Express ; 
I will hail it and speak it fair, 
For I must have something to wear. 



THE STUFFED BIED. 

/^UT through the window you wish it would fly, 
^-^ And then come back to you by and by ; 
Kuffle its feathers and flutter its wings, 
And sing such a song as the bobolink sings ? 
Its plumage is splendid, and yet you are tired 
Of the treasure at first so greatly admired. 
Perched motionless, though with a semblance of 

flight, 
On the self-same twig from morning till night ? 

And birds are so restloss, so eager, so wise, 
So rapid the glance of their bright little eyes ! 
How they tremble, and quiver, and flutter, and 

dart, 
As if they were nothing but wings and a heart ! 
Why, verily, if it were left me to choose. 
This tropical beauty I 'd willingly lose 
If suddenly, swiftly, one rapturous thrill 
This bright little throat with a song-burst would 



fill. 



290 



THE STUFFED BIRD. 291 

And these glad wings all quickened and eager for 

flight 
Would flash through the window and soar out of 

sight. 
I think not a sigh from my dearie or me 
Would wish back the captive that life had set free. 

'T is the absence of life where life has once stirred 
That makes this poor bird so unlike a bird 
That even its splendor, a weariness grown, 
Enchants us no longer with charms of its own. 
So lifeless it is that one must needs strive 
To so much as believe it was ever alive. 

Ah, see what a contrast ! — look, dearie, and see 
That little brown bird in the evergreen tree, 
With no beauty to boast of, and one little note 
Like a musical throb in its live little throat ! 
Incessant it flits through the branches, and now 
Darts outward and up to the loftiest bough 
In the joy of mere being to carol and swing ! 
Why, that is a creature, but this is a thing I 



THE BABY I LOVE. 



npHIS is the baby I love ! 
-*- The baby that cannot talk ; 

The baby that cannot walk ; 
The baby that just begins to creep ; 
The baby that 's cuddled and rocked to sleep ; 

Oh, this is the baby I love ! 

This is the baby I love ! 

The baby that 's never cross ; 

The baby papa can toss ; 
The baby that crows when held aloft ; 
The baby that 's rosy and round and soft ! 

Oh, this is the baby I love ! * 

This is the baby I love ! 

The baby that laughs when I peep 

To see is it still asleep ; 
The baby that coos and frowns and blinks 
"When left alone — as it sometimes thinks ; 

Oh, this is the baby I love ! 
292 



THE BABY I LOVE. 293 

This is the baby I love ! 

The baby that lies on my knee 

And dimples and smiles at me 
While I strip it, and bathe it, and kiss it — oh ! — 
Till with bathing and kissing 't is all aglow ; 

Yes, this is the baby I love ! 

This is the baby I love ! 

The baby all freshly dressed ; 

That waking is never at rest ; 
That plucks at my collar and pulls my hair 
Till I look like a witch, but I do not care ; 

Oh, this is the baby I love ! 

This is the baby I love ! 

The baby that understands ; 

And dances with feet and hands 
And a sweet little whinnying eager cry 
For the nice warm breakfast that waits it close by ; 

Oh, this is the baby I love ! 

This is the baby I love ! 

The baby that tries to talk ; 

The baby that longs to walk ; 
And oh ! its mamma will wake some day 
To find that her baby has — run away 1 

My baby — the baby I love ! 



HER OWN LITTLE EOOM. 



T T ERE is my own little room ; 
•^ -^ Fair as a lily in bloom — 

That is what mother dear said. 
Just see how lovely it looks ! 
Here are my desk and books, 

Here is my own little bed. 

This is my sewing-chair ; 
That is my work-box there, 

Everything I shall use ; 
Thimble and scissors and thread, 
Stocking-ball — darning I dread ! 

Emery, needles to choose. 

Soon as I learned to sew, 
Mend my own linen, you know. 

Take all the care for my own. 
Dusting and making my bed, 
Mother always has said, 

" Sister shall room all alone." 
294 



HER OWN LITTLE ROOM. 295 

Not that the children may 
Not be allowed here to play 

Sometimes when they are good ; 
But when I 'm reading, you know, 
Komping and shouting they go ; 

Then I want solitude. 



Here I shall often sit, 
(Mother can read and knit !) 

Resting my book on this shelf. 
Here my birdie will swing 
Bight overhead, the dear thing, 

Singing away to himself. 

Pictures ? O yes, I forget ! 
This is " S. Margaret,'* — 

None of them costly, but dear - 
This is " Aurora " and this — 
This is " The Playmate's Kiss," 

And " Jesus and Mary " here. 

Here in the winter time 
I shall have ivies to climb ; 

And my Hermosa rose, 
All through the winter in bloom, 
How it will brighten my room ! 

I shall forget that it snows. 



296 BER OWN LITTLE ROOM. 

This prett}^ student-lamp 's mine ; 
I may sit up until nine, 

But I shall join mother dear 
Till I come up for the night, 
So I my candle shall light 

Unless she sits with me here. 

Sometimes my friends will come in ; 
Very soon I shall begin 

Asking them duly to come. 
Here I mean to " receive ; " 
Oh, you may laugh, but believe ! 

For this is my home in my home ! 



"VIVE LA EETNE." 

T T 7ITH tlie robin for poet-laureate, 
^ ' And the may flowers for her train, 
And her innocence for her robe of state, 
The baby began her reign. 

The pretty head with its curly crown 
Knows nothing of royal woes ; 

For love is softer than eider-down. 
And yieldeth her sweet repose. 

There are loyal and loving hearts alone 

In the wee one's fair domain ; 
And they make the robin's song their own, 

Tor he singeth, " Vive la Reine ! " 

297 



THE FAIEY TAPEK. 

A BOVE me all the stars of night 
"^^^ Thick clustering make the darkness bright ; 
And in the darkling grass below 
Shines out with swift, responsive glow 
A tiny, steadfast, lucid ray, 
Anon as swiftly dies away. 
Again it comes ; again it goes ; 
And still with equal lustre glows. 
Now I bethink me 't is the light 
Of some sweet fairy of the night ; 
A taper-flame of emerald hue 
Put out by silver showers of dew ! 
But oh the invisible hands that bear 
The fairy candlestick in air, — 
To see them strike the fairy light 
And lift the flame in mortal sight, 
To guide her hastening lover true 
The forest of the grasses through ! 

Fall faster yet an fall you must. 
Small dew that lays the fairy dust ! 
Oft as you quench her lovely light 
This little lady of the night 

298 



THE FAIRY TAPER. 299 

Will still renew the gem-like flame 
That hour by hour will burn the same ; 
While lover fond and lady true 
Defy the darkness and the dew ! 

" AVho told you ? " (whispered in my ear.) 
A little Glow-worm told me, dear ! 



KNITTING SONG. 

OTITCH by stitcli and row on row, 

^-^ This is the way the stocking must grow. 

Clickety, clickety, day by day 

The slender, glittering needles say. 

Hush-a-bye, Baby, Grandmother sings ; 

Hither and thither the cradle swings. 

Pearl and plain and plain and pearl, 
Be it for boy or be it for girl ; 
Two and two is a neat device ; 
Learn to shift the thread in a trice. 

Hush-a-bye, Baby, Grandmother sings ; 

Hither and thither the cradle swings. 

Inch by inch the long leg grows, 
Straight and narrow for fitting close ; 
A very poor leg, is the saying well known. 
That cannot shape a sock of its own. 

Hush-a-bye, Baby, Grandmother sings ; 

Hither and thither the cradle swings. 
300 



KNITTING SONG. 301 

Count the stitches and halve them now, 
And one half set in a single row, 
And back and forth outside and in 
Knit the heel on the single pin. 

Hush-a-hye, Baby, Grandmother sings ; 

Hither and thither the cradle swings. 

Knit it long and narrow midway 
To round it ; and bind it off, as we say ; 
Take up the loops on either side 
And add a few more to make it wide. 

Hush-a-bye, Baby, Grandmother sings ; 

Hither and thither the cradle swings. 

Now each side narrow or slip and bind, 
To shape the instep, as you will find ; 
Then knit straight on till you near the toe ; 
This is the way the foot must grow. 

Hush-a-bye, Baby, Grandmother sings ; 

Hither and thither the cradle swings. 

Then narrow once more and narrow away, 

Toeing it off, as knitters say. 

There is a stocking fit for an heir ! 

Now knit the mate for he must have a pair ! 
Hush-a-bye, Baby ; when you are grown 
Your feet may be worthy to climb to a throne ! 



THE KING'S SUEVEYOE. 

f~^ OME, little one, this is " our time/' you know ; 
^-^ Too late to read and too late to sew, 
Yet too early the evening lamp to light, — 
It is not day and it is not night. 

The fresh stick crackles and blazes and sings, 
And the shadows wave round us like dusky wings ; 
On the ivory key-board flame-fingers play, — 
It is not night and it is not day. 

While you perch on my knee in the twilight time, 
I tell you the tale — I chant you the rhyme : 
Now here is a story you have not heard, — 
It is true ; I give it you word for word. 

Once on a time in this quaint old town 
Whose brown roofs are slow to tumble down, 
While turrets and spires are slower yet 
To fill their places and banish regret, — 

Once on a time in the neighborhood fair 
Of the stateliest mansion in Haymarket Square, 
On the rocks where a church has since been reared, 
The shanty of Shepherd Ham appeared. 
302 



THE KING'S SURVEYOR. 303 

The King's Surveyor once was he ; 

In the forest on man}^ a noble tree, 

Ere the Eed Coats the conquering Colonists met, 

The royal arrow he loftily set. 

But when he could serve his King no more, 
And his silver lace was a thing of yore, 
He opened a stable — the proud old Tory — 
And fed his pride on his former glory. 

Now close was he as the bark to the tree, 
And the older he grew the worse grew he j 
The rickety coach and the unshod brute 
Soon brought his stalls into disrepute. 

One by one and day by day 

Shepherd's patrons fell away ; 

But his lank-ribbed horses, as odd as himself, 

He would not part with for love or pelf. 

A queer old man he was indeed ! 
In the Portsmouth " Eambles " you may read 
How he dwelt for j^ears in his hut alone, 
Old saddles and trappings round him strewn ; 

Old sleighs, old coaches, old chaises beside. 
Wherein even ghosts would not risk them to ride ; 
And around his shanty far and near 
Wheels and axles and useless gear. 



304 THE KING'S SURVEYOR. 

William his name ; yet low and higli 
Called him " Shepherd/' — I know not why, 
Unless it may be he was wont to keep 
His flock of horses as shepherds their sheep. 

His long beard sweeping the faded vest 
Carelessly buttoned across his breast, 
In his clumsy boots and corduroys, 
Teased and courted by all the boys, 

The old man went on his daily rounds, 

Rich in importance though poor in pounds, 

Peeling old honors about him cling. 

And praying persistently, " God save the King ! " 

Under and over him horse-skins spread, 

The old man slept on his comfortless bed, 

Unvexed by the raid of rats in his den 

So his worm-eaten treasures were safe from men. 

The moth and the mouse they lacked no food, 
But well-nigh deserted his stables stood, 
For the crib was empty, the rack was bare, 
And the beast would starve that waited there. 

So up and down, up and down. 

Shepherd's horses roamed the town. 

From morn till noon and from noon till night, 

Pausing wherever they found a bite. 



THE KING'S SURVEYOR. 305 

Yet a kindly care old Shepherd showed 
For the creatures he pastured on the road ; 
In gathering storms he sought his flock 
From Frenchman's Lane to Puddle Dock. 

As he drove his shaggy herd before 

From Wibird's Hill to Christian Shore, 

Merrily would the town's folk say : 

" The careful Shepherd is coming this way ! " 

Now the boys — well, boys will be boys, you know ; 
And sixty or seventy years ago 
They were ripe for mischief and ready for play 
As the rogues who run from the rod to-day. 

And if one of those lads, overflowing with fun, 
In Broad Street, or Jaffrey, or Islington, 
Spied one of those horses of Shepherd Ham, 
How could he leave him to browse like a lamb ! 

Some little trick with the burr-tangled tail 
Switching the poor beast's flanks like a flail ; 
No evil he meant, but all he could do 
He could not help playing a prank or two. 

One morning, while slumber seemed yet to drown 
The first faint hum of the drowsy town, 
And Nature herself in her mist-spun cap 
Indulged in an innocent morning nap. 



306 THE KING'S SURVEYOR. 

Some workmen, beguiling their early walk 
With simple, cheery, jovial talk, 
Went up Church Hill where St. John's cloth stand 
Looking out o'er the water and in o'er the land. 

They had wrought on the belfry long days before, 
And were come to take up their toil once more. 
And the staging whereby they reached that height 
They lifted at morning and lowered at night. 

Midway up the hillside a boisterous shout 
From the trio of honest throats rang out, 
For lo ! the staging swung high in air. 
And — "What in the world is that up there ! " 

Surely it is — but can it be ? — 
An old horse gazing out to sea ; 
With sleepy eyes and listless ears, 
As if he had gazed and gazed for years ! 

Did he follow some dim receding sail ? 
It is not recorded in the tale ; 
But I '11 venture to add the workmen swore 
No horse ever stood so near heaven before. 

When the village had fairly opened its eyes, 
Fancy the merriment and surprise 
That followed its wake as the story flew round 
How the ancient horse on the staging was found ! 



THE KING'S SURVEYOR, 307 

But at noon when the urchins broke from school, 
And tossing their caps snapped their fingers at rule, 
Of all the bright eyes in the crowd not one 
Betrayed the author of last night's fun ! 



"IF YOU WERE A BEE.'* 

T F you were a bee, if you were a bee, 
-*" What flower would you love best ? 
If you were a bird, a blithe little bird, 
Where would you build your nest ? 

The heart of a rose and the hawthorn close, 

Are these the places you 'd seek ? 
But Mother's warm breast is Baby's dear nest. 

Baby's sweet rose is her cheek. 

When blossoms turn pale and honey-cups fail 

And nests grow cold with the year, 
More warm grows the breast, and the cheek you 
have prest 
Dearer and yet more dear. 
308 



THE LITTLE BEGGAE. 

A LL that you ask is one kiss, Petite ; 
Just one wee kiss, and no more ? 
Did ever a beggar half so sweet 
Stand begging at any door 
For so foolish a thing before ! 

Kiss you once and you '11 go away ? 

But I know better than this ; 
If I kiss you once you are sure to stay, 

And there the mischief is 

In giving you one wee kiss. 

Once in my arms and you cannot go, 
Sweet beggar turned captive sweet ! 

For I shall kiss you and kiss you so 
That you will begin to entreat, 
" Please put me down on my feet ! " 

You are not afraid ? Then come, my Pet I 
Away with my book and my pen ! 

Here goes ! — Enough ? Not yet, not yet ! 
There ! — give me back kisses ten, 
And then — come a-begging again ! 

309 



WE DO NOT KNOW. 

T^EAE. child, dear child, we do not know 
"*-^ Why sorrows come and pleasures go, 

Why oft we fail when most we try, 
But God knows why 

And we shall all know by and by. 

We do not know, we cannot tell, 
But oh the Father knoweth well 
Why one is rich and one is fair, 

One sick with care, 
And this world's poor are everywhere. 

We walk in darkness but He sees 
And shows us gently by degrees 
And step by step the hidden way, 

If we but pray, 
" Lord, make me follow Thee alway." 

We must be patient till the end 
And leave to Him the way we wend ; 
For never here our eyes can see 

The plan that He 
In mercy plans for you and me. 
310 



WE DO NOT KXOW. 311 

Our best is ill, our worst perhaps 
His pity counts a lesser lapse ; 
But every sin is very black 

And turns us back 
Erom duty's straight and shining track. 

Sweet is the fear that will not dare 
Forget His law or spurn His care, 
And sweeter still the love that saith 

With every breath, 
" Lord, make me faithful unto death." 



|. l i » I »l I M t^ 



IN THE DARK. 

T KNOW it is dark, my darling, 
^ And fearful the darkness seems, 
But shut your eyes ! in a moment 

The night will be bright with dreams ; 
Or better, you '11 sleep so sound all night 
It will seem but a moment till morning light. 

There is only one kind of darkness 

That need to trouble us, dear ; 
Only the night of temptation. 

And then we must all of us fear. 
But even then if we are but brave 
There is One who is ever at hand to save. 

We have only to ask Him to help us, 
And He will shield us from harm ; 

Only to whisper, " Jesus ; " 
His Name is a holy charm ; 

" Jesus, save me," we need but say 

And the night of temptation will flee away. 
312 



IN THE DARK. 313 

" How can He be always near us, 

Near all of us, everywhere ? " 
Ah, that is beyond our knowing, 

But there is no bound to His care ; 
And dear as the whole big world in His sight 
Is the little child He bids Good-night. 



TO MY GODSON, C. E. H. 

(Sexagesima, 1886.) 

A YEAR ago I received you, dear child, 
■^ -^ From the waters of Baptism ; on your brow 
The sign of the Kingdom undefiled, — 
The sign that the angels see there now. 

It was then that the bond between us was made — 
Godson and godmother, you and I ; 

When the precious burden on me was laid 
That you will lift from me by and by. 

Yes, that was only a year ago 

By the Church's reckoning, little one ; 

One of these days my boy will know 

What godmother means and what godson. 

I almost trembled to take you that day, 

Half lost in the long, fair robes that you wore ; 

How tiny you looked, and how helpless you lay. 
While your downy head in my palm I upbore. 
314 



TO MY GODSON, C. E. H. 315 

But already, my boy, you are running about 

On those adventurous little feet, 
Midst the circle of sisters who laugh and shout 

At your baby frolics and lispings sweet. 

The mirth that is masked in a rueful look 
How swiftly you answer with gleeful eyes ! 

How you fling down the bauble and seize the book, 
Discerning without discerning the prize ! 

Yesterday's favors you claim to-day ; 

And oh, with what artless stratagem, 
Eluding all tactics, you make your way, 

O'ermatching the wit that your progress would 
hem. 

But already, too, you are learning, I know, 
The tender restraint, the loving control 

Of the sweetest home in the world ; and oh, 
The blessing henceforward to body and soul ! 

My dear little godson, my beautiful boy, 
On this, the day of your mystical birth, 

I will not give you a fragile toy — 
I cannot give you a gift of worth. 

So I clasp you close to my heart, and pray 
That the sign the angels see there now, 

God's priceless gift to you, day by day 

Brighter and brighter may burn on your brow. 



316 TO MY GODSON, C. E. H. 

Brighter and brighter, as year by j^ear 
You are taught to follow His blessed will, 

Kept in his steadfast love and fear, 
Fighting and overcoming still. 

Brighter and brighter, as boyhood speeds, 
And youth and manhood pass awaj'", 

And the shining path of obedience leads 
On to the light of the perfect day. 



A LITTLE CHRISTMAS SERMON. 



r^ HILDREN dear, I heard ye say : 
^-^ " Morrows, haste and haste away ; 
Bring the merry Christmas Day ! 

" Blithest Carol, sweetest Chime, 
Hearts that dance to peal and rhyme. 
Welcome in the happy time ! 

" Starry Tree, shine out anew, 
Glittering as with golden dew, 
Gay with fruits of every hue ! " 

This is what ye said, I trow : 
Little children, hearken now 
Ere ye pluck the freighted hough ; 

Ponder what the Carols mean ; 
What the Chime rung out between. 
What the laden Evergreen. 

" Glory be to God Most High ! " 
Sang His angels in the sky 
When the Lord to men drew nigh. 

317 



318 ^ LITTLE CHRISTMAS SERMON. 

" Peace on eartli — good will and peace ; 
Love shall reign, and wrong shall cease j 
He is born, — the Prince of Peace ! '^ 



Just for love of us He came, 
Took His sweetly tender Name — 
Jesus! stooped to our shame. 

" I will save you,'' — thus He said ; 
" I am Life ; your life is dead ; 
I will give you life instead ! " 

Little children, closest pressed 
To the loving Saviour's breast. 
Surely ye must love Him best ! 

This is love, — to do His will ; 
Speaking truth ; forsaking ill ; 
Bearing and forbearing still ; 

Battling selfishness within 
(Where He only sees the sin) 
Till through Him at last ye win ; 

Sorrowing over evil wrought — 
Open deed or secret thought ; 
Straightway doing as ye ought ; 



A LITTLE CHRISTMAS SERMON. 319 

Blessing all for His dear sake, 
As His blessing ye i^artake ; 
Happier; thus, His world to make. 

This is love ; a service light, 
Dojie with all your little might: 
None shall fail to do it right. 

Let your little hearts reply 
To the angels in the sky : 
" Love shall reign eternally ! 

" God is love forevermore ; 
Love we Him, and Him adore 
In the Christ-Child born of yore." 

Let your lives ring out His praise 
Like a chime His finger sways : 
Sweet as carols be your days. 

Beautiful with holiness. 
Let your daily deeds confess 
In whose Name ye seek to bless. 

This is what the Carols mean ; 
What the Chime rung clear between ; 
What the bounteous Evergreen. 



THE HOLY CHILD. 

A KE you thinking, dear child, 

'^^^ Of Jesus the Lord when He was a Child, 

And blessed Mary the Mother mild 

With heart love-troubled and eyes intent 
So tenderly watched Him as He went, 
Beyond all innocence innocent. 
On holy and unguessed errands bent ? 

Are you dreaming, dear child. 

Of the heavenly mien of that Wonderful Child ; 

The look He wore when He spake or smiled ; 
The healing balm of His touch and tear ; 
The sweet voice, marvel to every ear, 
That drew all the children far and near 
(Because it was Love's and love is dear) ? 

Are you longing, dear child, 

To be like the Lord when He was a Child ? 

E-emember : the Christ-Boy undefiled, 
So meek and lowly, so reverent, 
Yet filling the wise with wonderment. 
And crowned with all favor as He went, 
Was, first and last, obedient. 
320 



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